The recently concluded virtual congress of the DA signals a make-or-break point in the noble quest to rid South Africa of the debilitating stranglehold of the ANC on our politics.
As the second-largest and arguably the most diverse political party in the country, it is often said that for SA to work, the DA has to work. Similarly, to fix the country, the DA has to be fixed. It is important to engage in a robust analysis of the current strengths and apparent pitfalls of the official opposition party.
Born out of a liberal tradition epitomised by the indomitable Helen Suzman, who fought a lone battle against the erstwhile National Party in parliament during the apartheid era, the DA has rightfully taken the mantle to fight against the excesses of the governing ANC, which continues to render black people as the perpetual hewers of wood and drawers of water. The ANC’s reign can arguably be seen as a continuation of the apartheid project in a different guise.
A false narrative has been created that the ANC is genuinely concerned about the welfare of blacks while the DA is mainly concerned about the elitist considerations of the minorities, particularly whites. The election of both John Steenhuisen and Helen Zille as party leader and Federal Council Chairperson respectively, has given a new twist to this narrative to dissuade the black electorate from voting for a “white” party. The DA is accused of having ditched blackness as a proxy for disadvantage.
Using race as a proxy for disadvantage serves as a convenient scapegoat for failing to reverse the plight of the majority and bring to fruition the elusive promise of a “better life for all”. It was progressive for the DA to ditch the unedifying assumption that being black was tantamount to being poor. The elimination of poverty and other challenges is a function of a capable state that the ANC has failed to provide over almost three decades in power. Instead, what we have witnessed is the installation of a crony state based on the dispensing of patronage where corruption becomes the operational word.
With the country in dire need of an alternative to the ANC, the DA needs to fine-tune itself to assume the role of a party of governance or a leader of a coalition of opposition parties. There is a need for the restoration of the democratic pillars of the rule of law and accountability, which have been jettisoned in the age of state capture. The recent testimonies (if you can call it that) of the erstwhile senior official at SAA, Yakhe Kwinana, and the delinquent director, Dudu Myeni, at the Zondo Commission would have been laughable if they were not serious.
The serious abuse of power at the state airline and other state-owned entities is a clear pointer of the extent how the rule of law was undermined and a corrosive culture of unaccountability entrenched. Within the ANC, accountability is seemingly regarded as a swear word that can simply be deflected with mantras such as the overused “innocent until proven guilty”.
The 2021 local government elections should be used to send a clear message to the ANC that the people of South Africa are not fools and that they can see through the machinations of the governing party. The time is ripe to give second-largest party in South Africa the opportunity to govern South Africa’s major cities in preparation for consigning the ANC to the dustbins of history in 2024.
An important truism for the South African electorate is that there is nothing wrong with the DA that cannot be fixed with what is right in the DA, much as there is nothing wrong with South Africa that cannot be fixed with what is right with South Africans.
The trick is in voting correctly.
• Lee is a Sowetan reader
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