The DA isn’t worth fighting for

The party’s internecine political stands afford an opportunity for a new voice, writes Tebogo Khaas

I rarely agree with Mmusi Maimane’s politics, but his resignation as leader of the DA delivered a welcome shot of adrenaline and serotonin to this incurably cynical soul.

And by the time he exhorted thus: “...despite my best efforts, perhaps the DA is not the correct vehicle to take forward the vision of one South Africa”, he had me feeding from the palm of his vanquished hand.

But no sooner had Maimane won me over as a principled, selfless political leader than he somehow lost me with his nonsensical decision to remain aboard the self-same jalopy he had just expressed his complete loss of confidence in.

And just as the morning-after dew had dried, Maimane redeemed himself to an exasperated public by renouncing his DA membership as well as his position as parliamentary leader of the party.

The irreconcilability of Maimane’s earlier position to remain involved in the DA’s business while disavowing the party must have weighed heavily on him overnight, and thus he had been cured in the morning.

In so doing, he restored his seemingly troubled dignity.

Read: The tragedy of two ideological centres within the DA

Maimane’s resignation and that of federal chair Athol Trollip thrust the DA into a mini constitutional crisis as it exposed a shortcoming of the party’s constitution, which didn’t anticipate a situation in which the positions of party leader and federal executive chairperson would be rendered vacant concurrently.

Whereas the DA’s recent poor electoral showing was used as a ruse to force Maimane’s resignation, the drama surrounding his and Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba’s departure was illuminating.

The manner in which they resigned, particularly the timing and the attendant optics, rattled even those within the party leadership who wanted them out.

With Trollip, the trio’s departure helped expose the opposite ends of the party policy continuum on social redress and racial diversity.

To the verkrampte, who wrested control of the party from Maimane, redress and diversity are euphemisms for black assimilation and ephemeral social transformation.

Helen Zille

It is hard to not see Helen Zille’s return as the party’s federal council chair, and the consequent surrender by the trio, as a political insurrection by right-wingers who were becoming increasingly vexed by the party’s apparent adoption and implementation of pro-poor, transformative programmes in Johannesburg and Maimane’s public pronouncements on social redress.

Read:‘I will stay in my lane’ – Zille after being elected DA federal council chair 

Party stalwart Douglas Gibson’s remarks that “this constant harping on racism, which is making white people tired, very sick of it”, were an unambiguous statement reasserting the hegemony the verkrampte old guard maintains on party policy and direction.

Although recapture of the party by right-wing elements is complete, the old guard can’t even see the moral high ground in the rear-view mirror anymore.

It is likely that they will endure the misfortune of watching the black voter goodwill slip away and the DA recede into the periphery of opposition politics.

The ongoing policy crisis within the DA remains the elephant in the room that the party seems ill-prepared to confront with the requisite candour and speed.

Some people lament Maimane’s apparent lack of political acumen for his inability to corral the support of party structures behind his vision for the DA, which is clearly at loggerheads with that of the old guard.

Whether what Zille and her acolytes did obliges the upcoming DA congress to take bold but necessary steps to ameliorate the damage will be up to DA members to decide.

It is, however, unthinkable that Zille will be pushed out even if it means her continued presence alienates otherwise sympathetic but dejected black voters.

Whichever way the DA members decide, the party will never be the same again and will have to concede the epic miscalculation of enabling Zille’s disruptive return.

Notwithstanding the growing disaffection with the DA’s political duplicity, its crisis is unlikely to benefit political rivals significantly.

This is despite the recent defections of some DA members in KwaZulu-Natal to the ANC.

Rather, it could encourage the return of those supporters it had lost to the Freedom Front Plus.

There is a growing acceptance of an almost inevitable split of the DA. Although race has everything to do with the crisis, any split wouldn’t be purely along racial lines.

The question on many people’s minds is: “What’s the next move for the trio?”

Douglas Gibson

Unrestrained by their erstwhile party’s intransigence to contribute to enduring nationhood, the formidable trio will probably establish a new political home.

This could, however, be seen as fragmenting further an already fragmented and ineffectual opposition party landscape.

Nevertheless, there’s anecdotal evidence of space and desire for an alternative political voice.

A party led by the trio would not only transcend barriers imposed by race and class, but could be a force to be reckoned with.

Otherwise our democratic experiment will be poorer for their political exile.

Like impeachment, the power of the vote is, like Goliath’s sword, kept in the temple, and not used but on great occasions.

The upcoming local elections in 2021 will be one such occasion.

In the end, it appears voters will have a lasting voice in the future of the DA as an official opposition party.

Voters will have an opportunity to decide whether the race denialism of the DA, the incorrigible corruption of the ANC, the hypocrisy of the EFF and the United Democratic Movement, or the freshness and appeal of a Maimane-inspired party deserves their vote.

And belated as it was, it is encouraging that Maimane realised that there are many things worth fighting for ... and the DA isn’t one.

Khaas is chairman of Corporate SA, a strategic advisory and consulting firm

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