Political Parties in South Africa
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The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN Department of Political Studies The Impact of the 2004 Election Campaign on the Quality of Democracy in South Africa Thesis Presented for the Degree ofTown DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHYCape of Submitted By Cherrel Jane Africa University AUGUST 2008 Supervisor: Professor Robert Mattes DECLARATION I, Cherrel Jane Africa, hereby declare that, that apart from the normal guidance from my supervisor, this thesis is my own unaided work, both in concept and execution. Neither the substance nor any part of the above thesis has been submitted in the past, or is being, or is to be submitted for a degree at this University or at any other university. Each contribution to, and quotation in, this thesis from the work(s) of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. I am now presenting the thesis for examination for the degree of PhD. Town Cape of University i DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to The loving memory of my parents, Daniel Francis and Delia Jane Thebus, who died before they could taste the fruits of democracy in South Africa. And Town My husband John and my sons, Joshua and Daniel: Your presence, encouragement and support kept me moving forward: I love andCape thank you – you are my lifeblood. of University ii ABSTRACT Despite the critical relationship between election campaigns and the quality of democracy, it is an understudied phenomenon. Moreover, in South Africa, there has never been a systematic study of an entire election campaign. In this thesis I assess whether the 2004 election campaign hindered or enhanced the quality of South Africa’s democracy. I adapt Lasswell’s model of persuasive communication (which views the source, content, medium, recipient and effect as crucial parts of the communicative process) as well as concepts set out by Diamond and Morlino (2005), Powell (2005) and Buchanan (2001) to develop an integrated analytical model to assess how an election campaign can contribute to the quality of democracy. I bring together a wide set of data, much of it original, into a unique body of evidence which I use to evaluate the extent to which South Africa’s 2004Town campaign contributed to or detracted from the quality of democracy. I thus provide a systematic assessment of the caliber of information and choices offered by political parties to voters in 2004 election. Cape Juxtaposing my empirical findings againstof my analytical model reveals a bleak picture of campaigning in South Africa. Every component of my model received a predominantly negative assessment. A substantial body of voters without firm partisan attachments (but with low levels of internal efficacy and largely negative images of opposition parties and their leaders) had unprecedented access to the mass media and were available to be persuaded by political parties. However, parties failed to provide distinctionsUniversity between their policies, instead promising similar outcomes without adequately communicating their strategies. Campaign messages therefore blurred rather than illuminated the choices for voters. The poor communication by parties was further compounded by the media’s pre-occupation with conflict and hostility between party leaders. I therefore find that in the 2004 election the campaign damaged, rather than enhanced, the quality of democracy in South Africa. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the generous financial support of the A.W. Mellon Foundation; the National Research Foundation (NRF); the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD); the Democracy in Africa Research Unit (DARU) at the Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR) and the Centre for African Studies at UCT. I owe particular appreciation to my supervisor, Professor Robert Mattes, who has mentored me for more than a decade, who has always pushed me to go one step further and whose high standards, expertise and overall guidance have inspired me. I am also especially appreciative of the substantive feedback and assistance given to me by Dr Per Strand. Town I would also like to express my appreciation to: Washeelah Kapery and the staff at Citizen Surveys for their professionalism, willingness to “go the extra mile” and forCape producing a set of good quality focus group discussions; Wadim Schreiner and the staff at Mediaof Tenor, who faced a colossal task during the compilation of the content analysis data-set, for their attention to detail and to Wadim in particular, for his willingness to answer my continuous stream of questions; My husband John Africa, who proof-read several versions of both my proposal and thesis; Gavin DavisUniversity for his valuable input into the conceptualization phase of this study, the groundwork that he did on the Comparative National Elections Project and the use of the interviews that he conducted with political party media strategists; Collette Schulz-Herzenberg, Mary Kinney, Glen Mpani, Danga Mughogho, Joao Pereira, Carlos, Shenga, Kimberly Smiddy and Dadisai Taderera at the Democracy in Africa Research Unit for their insights and support during this long journey; The staff at the Centre for Social Science Research, UCT, particularly Libby Downes and Kathy Forbes and the Post-graduate Funding office, particularly iv Zerina Davis, for their administrative and logistical support; Dianne Steele from UCT library for her referencing expertise. I would also like to express my gratitude to family, friends, colleagues and fellow- students, too many to mention individually, who encouraged and supported me in various ways. Finally, I am thankful to Almighty God for sustaining me and enabling me to complete this thesis. Town Cape of University v ABBREVIATIONS ANC African National Congress DA Democratic Alliance CNEP Comparative National Elections Project COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions CSSR Centre for Social Science Research DARU Democracy in Africa Research Unit ID Independent Democrats IDASA Institute for Democracy in South Africa EISA Electoral Institute of South Africa IEC Independent Electoral Commission IFP Inkatha Freedom Party Town MMP Media Monitoring Project MT Media Tenor NNP New National Party (NationalCape Party before1997) PR Proportional Representation PAC Pan Africanist Congressof PEB Public Education Broadcasts SABC South African Broadcasting Corporation SACP South African Communist Party SAARF South African Advertising Research Foundation SETA Sector Education Training Authority UCT University University of Cape Town UDF United Democratic Front UDM United Democratic Movement VAP Voting Age Population vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ....................................................................................................................................I DEDICATION ...................................................................................................................................... II ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................ III ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................... IV ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................................. VI CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 TOPIC .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT ............................................................................................ 5 CHAPTER TWO: ELECTION CAMPAIGNS AND THE QUALITY OF DEMOCRACY ....... 11 2.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................Town 11 2.2 OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .......................................................................................... 11 2.3 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ELECTION CAMPAIGNS AND THE QUALITY OF DEMOCRACY 13 2.4 ASSESSING CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS ......................................................................... 15 2.4.1 The Message Source .................................Cape..................................................................... 17 2.4.2 Campaign Messages ...................................................................................................... 19 2.4.3 Campaign Strategies and Media Coverageof .................................................................... 21 2.4.4 Voters ............................................................................................................................ 23 2.4.4.1 Cognitive Awareness ......................................................................................................... 23 2.2.4.2 Partisan Identification.................................................................................................................