ABSTRACT
Democratic deliberation and rhetorical democracy have been for some time the subject of intense and fundamental debates among rhetoricians.1 South Africa may offer an added dimension to the debate between the liberal position-which distrusts mass public deliberation as either plebiscitarian or irrational (whether one looks at the impact of presidential oratory or at diverse deliberation)2-and postmodern rhetorical relativism, whereby the public argues over provisional meanings and appearances.3 It may offer an added example and a powerful illustration of the shortcomings of the belief in a “middle democracy,” in which “legitimation ritual” supersedes “an exercise in participatory democracy.”4 A need therefore exists to engage in an analysis and a questioning of democratic deliberation in South Africa.5
