A weekend ago South Africa witnessed the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), elect a Black leader as its head. We witnessed, in his inaugural speech, a defiant Mmusi Maimane respond to many of his critics. The elected leader cast doubt on criticisms that he was a briefcase, or a ‘garden boy’, for this or some other politician within the party. Against some of his critics within the party, he then went on to position himself within the history and thinking of the party. Unmistakably, Maimane then went on to appropriate a number of African National Congress (ANC) jargon; albeit only to bring a sense of irony to the fore. But this was also an attempt, I suspect, to make the DA a home for everyone, as witnessed by his bold assertions that, “in his lifetime”, the DA will take over state power.
So, let’s briefly move beyond the racial inferences regarding Maimane’s election within the DA for a moment. And let’s focus on the broader implications of his election within the party and for South Africa.
Certainly, the DA will have to slog through the electoral support of the ANC to take over state power. More so, the party would have to appeal, and not just aesthetically, to the electorate, but ensure that its policies connect with the broader struggle for transformation, albeit through a liberal lens which is the party’s political philosophy. While in Maimane, perhaps, the DA can exemplify liberalism, proper, as opposed to the illiberalism of his predecessors, the question as to whether liberalism, as an ideological project to tackle inequality can take the country forward, is now on the cards.
Whether Maimane’s election is a cover up for the DA’s historical illiberalism, his election may signal a potential break with this ideological schizophrenia. Maimane probably enters as head of the party prematurely. And he also stands at its helm at a time in which the DA is caught between its National Party (NP) remnants and its emerging ‘black caucus’ politics; the latter being a current within the party seeking to create an inclusive liberal politics in the party. In such a situation, Maimane’s personal narrative may be what can make the latter a dominant force within the party.
This is partly because Maimane’s personal narrative, which he’s unafraid to use, is the quintessential liberal story of individual triumph over external constraints. The son of a migrant labourer, landless and jobless from the former Bophuthatswana, on the one side, and that of a family that came from the Eastern Cape and settled in Johannesburg, was this weekend, elected as the leader of the main, largely “white”, opposition party. It’s an attractive story of triumph for those who have access to opportunities.
And there is the currency for the unsuspecting middle class; well, not all of them.
While the DA will still find it difficult to capture rural voters, the middle strata stands to be a growing electoral base for the party. Consequently, too, it’s intellectual base; coupled with sufficient resources, in future, this may constitute an effective ideological offensive against the ANC. The prospects of liberalism, therefore, if it can be rescued within the party, may have a future in South Africa’s politics. This is also if the leadership of the DA can confront historical challenges such as racism, inequality and unemployment.
Confronting these realities also demonstrates the ability of the party to craft an alternative ‘post-apartheid nation’, if such a thing is attainable. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is, before our eyes, torn apart by comprador politics and the rift between government policy and utterances made by public officials within ANC may indicate a shift away from centre-left politics, something only successive ANC policy conferences can affirm or reject.
It’s important to bear in mind that a fraction within South African capital is also exploiting weaknesses within the ANC to alter political configurations. One gets a sense that these fractions have played themselves out in the DA; perhaps, as they usually do in many other political parties.
Nevertheless, the DA stands out as a credible party for an unsuspecting audience, albeit with creeping ‘sins of incumbency’. But this is if liberalism goes unchallenged! While liberalism might be attractive in confronting many of our ills, historically, it has not connected contemporary injustices to historical struggles. The next article will unpack why liberalism cannot be the only ideal to organize South African society.