Publications
Partners
The DA’s federal congress is the surest sign that the party is moving into new territory, writes Mondli Makhanya
The most obvious sign that the DA is in for interesting times as it enters uncharted territory was in the dancing and chanting at its federal congress in Port Elizabeth yesterday.
The conference hall, in which more than half the delegates were black, echoed with struggle songs and the entrancing chants of the toyi-toyi.
As black delegates worked up a sweat, their white counterparts clapped along, while others looked silly as they tried to copy black delegates. It was all quite awkward, perhaps symbolic of where the DA finds itself at the moment.
From today, the party will have a black leader in Mmusi Maimane – the first time the successor to the Democratic Party (DP), Progressive Federal Party and Liberal Party will be captained by someone who does not need sunscreen on a summer’s day outing.
No doubt, the ANC will downplay the change of guard as window-dressing, while the DA will pipe it up as epochal.
Whichever way you look at it, it is a breakthrough moment not only in the party’s history, but in South African politics.
From today, the only significant political party with a white leader will be the Freedom Front Plus.
An observer recently colourfully described the ascendancy of Maimane to the leadership position as akin to “a darkie storming the citadels of white power to chart a path” and “a beginning of the emasculation of white power and arrogance”.
That statement may put it a bit too strongly, but in it lies a truth that the party has been permanently wrested from white control.
It is now inconceivable that the party will again have a white leader in the foreseeable future. What is likely to happen is that, like in its provincial structures, the leadership ranks will be overwhelmingly black by the time the DA goes to its next conference in 2018.
Herein lies an opportunity and a danger for the DA. The massive opportunity is that the party is increasingly becoming attractive and uncontroversial for black South Africans who are looking for a political home.
For black people, choosing it is becoming as uncomplicated as picking an item in a supermarket aisle.
The ANC’s derisive reference to the DA as a “party of white privilege” is increasingly ringing hollow and being disregarded by new members and potential voters.
If it hopes to stem the steady growth of the DA in what it considers its traditional base, the governing party will have to box a lot cleverer to find new epithets – and govern better while it’s at it.
The danger for the DA – and the country – lies in the possible alienation of the white political activist and voter.
Former leader Tony Leon was able to grow the DP/DA and render the National Party irrelevant by smartly positioning the DA as the natural political home for white South Africans who, at the time, were feeling power and influence slipping from their grasp.
In the DA, white voters – and Indian and coloured voters – found a party they felt could defend minorities from what they saw as their marginalisation as a result of the state’s transformative policies.
A transforming DA led by people who do not find the ANC’s core ideologies threatening, and who will want to be responsive to the needs of those of their own backgrounds, could make the white base uncomfortable.
They might opt out of politics or become attracted to organisations such as AfriForum, who remind whites daily that race could beat the rhino to extinction.
Either scenario could be very unhealthy for the country.
Without necessarily being held hostage and nursing unfounded fears, Maimane and his team will have to manage this transition deftly. It will take more than just infusing the mlungus with rhythmic skills.
