NEDLAC'S ROLE DEFENDED

As a previous Labour Convenor for the Trade & Industry Chamber at NEDLAC and now based in Oxford as Policy Adviser: Private Sector at Oxfam, I continue to take a keen interest in the work of NEDLAC. I could not help but find the article in the Business Day where Tony Leon argues that NEDLAC is no longer needed somewhat laughable. Let me put this into context...

In my current job, I interact with the UK government and European Commission almost daily. One of the great frustrations has been their lack of democratic structures to allow various interest groups to talk to each other and to participate in government decision-making. Unions, businesses and NGOs speak to government on a bilateral level in most cases. They have one or two stakeholder forums, but they are mostly ineffective. Part of the problem is that there is very little sense of actual partnership between the various stakeholders. Parties are further frustrated because most of these meetings are talkshops with very scope for influence by the stakeholders. They have no forum or structure in which they can raise their concerns, negotiate and consult with government on more sensitive areas of public interest, negotiate agreements to resolve conflict, participate in an (almost) equal footing in the redrafting or drafting of new laws, policies or initiatives, or where they can hold government (and each other) accountable for agreements reached. They have no structure that comes even close to Nedlac.

Yes, we experience many problems with and at Nedlac. But the process of negotiating sensitive and interest-laden issues with stakeholders is not meant to be easy. It is difficult because we are dealing with difficult issues and difficult interest groups. Interests are so varied that it will always be difficult to reach an 'easy' agreement. Nedlac was not established to make things easier, it was established to include all the major stakeholders within a democratic system. We could not base this model on anything else as this system does not exist to this level anywhere else. Breaking ground in democracy was never going to be easy, but we have never taken the easy route in South Africa. We have always taken the right route. And the right route is usually the difficult route.

But this does not mean that we have not grown in Nedlac.
When it started, parties could hardly talk to each other. One of the great spin-offs of Nedlac has been the bridge-building between the different partners. Even with all the differences
and tensions, the social partners have a much greater understanding and respect for each other than ever before.

If Nedlac is lost, the partnership that has developed will also go. Nowhere else do people feel so part of a government decision-making process than in South Africa. It is key to what we wanted in South Africa and continues to be key.

Closing Nedlac would be to say that we have achieved everything we wanted to in South Africa and that there is no need to talk to each other anymore. That day is not now and probably never will be. Key to being South African is the openness to talk and share ideas with each other, to work jointly in solving new and old problems. In this cynical world, we will always be facing new problems and challenges - but through Nedlac we will do it together. It's not easy, but it's part of who we are.

Nedlac is also important for those outside South Africa.
Internationally there is a great lack of democratic structures.

I am proud to promote Nedlac as an example to all government institutions - from national governments such as the UK, to multinational governments such as the European Commission, World Trade Organisation and United Nations. We must continue to do our work at Nedlac and continue to be the innovators of democracy. Instead of closing Nedlac, we should promote it as the example of what democracy should look like. The day we scrap Nedlac is the day we say goodbye to real democracy and the day we join those elsewhere in the world who believe that democracy is a method of getting into power. Democracy is about including people in decision-making. We have redefined democracy and Nedlac is key in that.

Continue the good work. It is never easy, but that is why we do what we do.

Henk Campher