South Africa: A Second Democracy for the Second Economy?

If democracy is only about contestation between political parties then the elite consensus that the recent election constitutes further maturation into a free, fair and peaceful democracy is largely valid. But if democracy is understood to include the right to express dissent outside of electoral participation, and if the freedom and fairness of electoral processes is understood to require free political activity outside of party politics, then there are less grounds for optimism, begins this article from the website of the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.