Open letter to Helen Zille

Dear Helen Zille I know I write this letter at the time of the  Democratic Alliance’s (DA) success in Merafong, where you have just won Ward 21 as the DA from the ANC. It may therefore be thought that this is a congratulatory gesture, but no it is not.

Congratulations may be in order, but deeper issues confront you and your organisation. I want to theme this letter: “Black vs. White”, as my focal point will be the racial question in the DA.

We have, as South Africans embraced our newfound democracy, with an emphasis on building a nonracial society. Does this mean anything to you? I often hear this bragging about the “DA is the most diverse party in South Africa”. Where is this diversity? How is it reflected in the party and its structures? How can it be reflected?

Today we say that the ANC is a corrupt, self-serving and an immoral party. We say these things about the ANC, not because every member in the ANC resembles these qualities, but those in leadership and in the frontline of the party project such characteristics.

Leadership is representative of the majority view in the organisation, leadership is the representative of the organisation’s values, its aspirations and its future commitment. Today, we say that the DA is a white rooted party, it is white led, it preserves the interests of white people and it has not taken black people as equals.

We are correct to say this, precisely because the diversity that you have often claimed is not projected in your leadership structures. In your elective congress last year, you stood uncontested as the DA leader, a move that was crafted behind closed doors to avert a showdown – I saw this as a lack of advancing internal democracy within the party.

Secondly, in that very same congress, there was no black person that emerged in key leadership positions, save for Wilmot a coloured man. You retained James Selfe, Wilmot James emerged as Chairperson along with three Deputies; Anchen Dreyer, Dianne Kohler Barnard and Ivan Meyer.

Among the six rejected leaders who contested were; Sizwe Mchunu, Sej Motau, Khume Ramulifho and Bonginkosi Dlamini.  Such a pool of black leaders with none of them being elected and yet the DA is said to be the most diverse party in the country. Your leadership structures paint a contradictory view.

I am sure one may argue that Lindiwe Mazibuko is the face of the party. Now really, being a spokesperson is to be a tool that publicly shares views and echoes sentiments of the decision makers, which at the moment are overwhelmingly white in the DA. You may wonder, why this necessary theme of “Black vs. White”. Is it not clear?

In the South Gauteng Region’s Elective Congress (held 20 August 2011) of the DA, there was a great showdown between Cameron Mackenzie and Khume Ramulifho. Guess what, Khume was leading the race, having won two of three rounds. When the decisive third round was approaching, one Janet Semple cancelled the congress. Can you read my flow: “Black vs. White”?

Here is a Black man, about to emerge as the first black leader of one of the most influential regions of the DA and one white woman steps in to protect another white person by calling off the elections. And the reason for calling off this congress at its historic climax: Semple is quoted in the City Press as saying “It was a result of administrative problems. There were extra ballots that suddenly appeared.”

Do you know what this means? It simply means vote rigging and this practice in Africa is largely associated with black people. So, one quickly concludes that Khume  or his backers were the prime suspects of vote rigging. Black man cannot be trusted. Hahaha 'Just chuckling'.

This then brings me to what triggered this letter. Someone made a great fuss about your claim that Steve Bantu Biko inspired you to be politically active besides just being a journalist. The first line that came to me was that of Biko when he concluded that, “Black man you are on your own”.

Upon further pondering, I realised that perhaps it is not Black Consciousness that inspired you, but the death and manner in which Biko died. It was dehumanising, and indeed, it was good and laudable of you to discover the truth behind Biko’s death.

However, I am not removed from the reality that such a discovery may have been more driven by the hunger of a journalist wanting to go down in the history books rather than being driven by conviction to the ideals Biko espoused.

In reality, the Black Consciousness ideology of Biko is far removed from the Liberalism of the DA. You have been on a trail to woo the black community and you did it well in the last LGEs when you launched your manifesto in Kliptown and you continued to embrace struggle heroes – even landing next to the statue of Solomon Mahlangu.

I wondered then if you would embrace the song in his honour, which I have inexplicable love for, “uSolomon, hiyo uSolomon x2, wayelisosha, isosha lo Mkhonto We Sizwe, waye bulala amabhulu eAfrika”.

However, I see this as political opportunism and I will not be surprised if soon the DA re-launches the Freedom Charter. Where I stand, the effort is to get black voters and not black leaders.

White people who may indeed have opposed Apartheid founded the DA as the Democratic Party but the envisaged society may not be one that Biko had in mind. The DA’s Liberalism is shown in your speech during the last elections when you say: “Let us be honest and give name to the feelings that oppress us still.

There is anger and resentment, natural human responses to humiliation. There is a deficit of confidence and self-esteem. There is embarrassment and guilt…  We cannot engage these feelings, nor reconstruct our relationship with ourselves and each other, by means of confrontation.

And we cannot overcome the feelings that oppress us in court rooms. Nelson Mandela showed us the way forward. Reconciliation takes generosity. And it takes time”.  Your embracing of Madiba is tactful but also easy because his sense of reconciliation fitted well with the Liberalist DA. Mandela wanted political reconciliation that is devoid of economic reconciliation.

That is why you preach that economic inequality will be tackled through education and employment; there is no emphasis on economic restructuring. The DA does not talk economic redistribution, the DA wants to reflect on the past and tell us how to deal with its psychological impact without wanting us to confront the structural impositions of the past that disenfranchised black people from their country.

“Black vs. White” is well and alive when we talk economy and who owns the means of production. The DA is funded by white owned corporate companies in the league of the likes of Alexander Forbes. Do you think they would allow you to talk economic restructuring and radical land redistribution? Surely not, instead they say push for a catch phrase of creating “An open opportunity society”.

This means, you want a society that gives equal opportunities to all citizens regardless of race; however, it does not in any way encourage redress of the past. It captures Madiba’s sense of reconciliation, which almost says, “Black people forget your economic marginalisation of the past, focus on that you are equal today and will have a better future.”

The reality is that, the fact that only 6% of the land has been redistributed works for many white folks in the DA. However, the DA MPs and MPLs will posture for public gain and blame the ANC for moving slowly in land redistribution; meanwhile this is in the best interests of the DA and its funders.

Yes, black people continue to join the DA, mainly out of desperation to wanting to see their conditions changing. Some people see the DA as having stable politics and more focused on people

Some of the black people are starting to believe that white people govern better compared to black people; again “Black vs. White”. However, the DA faces threats: There are many things I can raise with you Helen, but let me stop here.

I must however, evoke words of Biko and say that indeed “black man you are on your own”. The Liberalist DA will maintain white economic hegemony and keep dangling lollypops at black people without giving them capacity to make those lollypops.

We want economic restructuring; currently neither you nor the ANC can deliver.