EDITORIAL | In the theatre of politics, Steenhuisen chose the action role

Reactions to DA leader John Steenhuisen’s visit to war-torn Ukraine have been predictably specious, rooted as they are in the populism and anti-intellectualism that fuel social media.

The bout of whataboutism has touched on Steenhuisen’s alleged lack of similar interest in African conflicts, the fact that Ukrainians have made the mistake of being white and claims that the DA should be more concerned about domestic injustices.

Steenhuisen hasn’t helped his cause by casting himself in the heroic role already being filled by dozens of brave news crews — “We owe it to the people of Ukraine to tell the unfiltered truth about what is taking place here” — but in light of the government’s official limp-wristedness on Russia’s invasion of its neighbour, it is hardly surprising he has scented the opportunity for advantage.

Granted, he’s overdoing it: Six days in Ukraine sounds more like a straight-to-Netflix third-rate spy series than the time an opposition political leader from 8,500km away should be spending in a country many of us couldn’t point to on a map.

But after a bumpy start, SA’s decision not to take sides looks increasingly doomed as the war passes the 10-week mark. It’s virtually guaranteed that while Steenhuisen is in Ukraine, geopolitical developments — such as the EU-wide ban on Russian oil imports floated on Wednesday — will present him with the opportunity to rub salt in the ANC’s wounds from the moral high ground of the battlefield.

More than ever before, politics is theatre, a lesson SA opposition parties have embraced and capitalised upon during the ANC’s numerous wasted years. And Steenhuisen could hardly have hoped for a better script as he touched down in Ukraine on Sunday.

For back home, providing a new spin on the old saying about organising a booze-up in a brewery, the ANC failed to stage a Workers’ Day rally in North West’s mining heartland.

In fact its leader, the founder and first general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers was chased away from Rustenburg by the men whose respect and loyalty he once took for granted.

Cyril Ramaphosa may have found himself wondering whether his life has become a tragedy, a farce or both as he sat down to reflect on his Workers’ Day experience. But his conclusion was hardly a cliffhanger: “We need to forge a social compact that not only has the support of workers but also delivers meaningful benefits to them.”

It also has the hallmarks of sophistry. Ramaphosa has just 16 days left of the 100 he gave himself in his state of the nation address to deliver a social compact — something he’s been talking about for years. Sunday’s events suggest the deadline will prove to be another example of wishful thinking.

In any case, whatever emerges stands every chance of being another document for that shelf in the Union Buildings, where the national development plan has been gathering dust for nearly a decade as the clock ticks on its undertaking to eliminate poverty by 2030.

That’s unless Ramaphosa can somehow rediscover the qualities that persuaded so many people, within the ANC and elsewhere, he was the man to turn SA around.

For now, even though the theatre he has chosen for his leadership audition is unorthodox, Steenhuisen is at least portraying himself as a man of action when Ramaphosa’s default position has become the opposite.