LETTER | Sefara should focus on other political parties and not just the DA

Perhaps the only thing Sefara is correct about is that the DA doesn’t want to become a ‘black party’, because, well, it shouldn’t

11 August 2022 - 13:08
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DA file photo
DA file photo
Image: Simphiwe Nkwali

Makhudu Sefara’s columns are routinely the vehicle for (poorly) articulating his pet issues but in this hit piece on the DA he’s excelled himself.

The departure point between him and fairer, more balanced thinkers is revealed from the get-go when he bemoans the fact that the DA can’t bring itself to become a “black party” and that this hankering after the past is what makes the DA “uncomfortable” for some black leaders.

His postscript on Mmusi Maimane’s failure as a DA leader and his demeaning references to ol’ John, as usual including careful amplification of Eusebius McKaiser’s race-baiting, complete the smear.

Perhaps the only thing Sefara is correct about is, ironically, that the DA indeed doesn’t want to become a “black party” because, well, it shouldn’t. The idea that voters can and ultimately need to coalesce around ideas and values and deeds rather than identity seems fundamental to our ability to break out of the downward cycle that our country is on, in no small measure because of the “race-consciousness” that Sefara so loves.

I don’t know and it’s never really clear how many politicians leave particular political parties. The comings and goings of ActionSA, the EFF, Inkatha and indeed the ANC are never focused on much, and never through a race lens, but of course, the vast majority are black members leaving “black parties”.

It’s the DA’s comings and goings that are treated as exceptional, and always thoughtlessly, because of some discomfort. It’s shallow, tedious reading. In our vacuous political space, where “debate” is largely about who shouts loudest or who gets “cancelled” first, the Sefaras of our time have much to answer for.

Martin Neethling

• Neethling left a comment on an article, the above is his comment to the TimesLIVE editor's piece.

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