The DA’s Power to the People marches to Luthuli House and parliament were fairly impressive affairs, but not nearly as impressive as critics’ determination to deliberately misunderstand what they were for.
To be fair, a few of the DA’s opponents were honest and cut straight to the chase, like the handful of ANC Youth League representatives who vowed to protect Luthuli House “at all costs”, which, given current cash flow issues, probably worked out to about R50 a head, plus a free sausage roll and T-shirt. Still, you had to say it was a fair afternoon’s work for a fair afternoon’s pay.
In some instances, the marchers made themselves an easy target for naysayers. Cape Town billionaire Rob Hersov, for example, was filmed describing himself as “South Africa’s chief activist”, which would have been entirely true if “activist” means something completely different to what it actually means.
Many of the other criticisms I saw online, however, were somewhat tired and dishonest, gripes that we’ve heard many times before and which are starting to smell a bit: at some point, liberals are going to have to interrogate the racism inherent in their belief that black supporters of the DA are either brainwashed bumpkins or coddled Model C schoolchildren.
As for those who told social media they were “embarrassed” by some of the awkward toyi-toying on display, I’d be interested to know if they think that was more embarrassing than, say, trying to explain to staff why you can’t employ them any more because your business is being killed by Eskom and the ANC.
We’re so far down this drain that right now any alternative, whoever vague, is a legitimate and practical offer, simply because it couldn’t be worse than the ANC, at least not at first.
A few people even took offence to what they saw as a lack of originality in the songs and slogans of the marchers. I’m sure none of those people is reading this column — I use words like “hegemony”, “liminal” and “Anthropocene” far too seldom for their taste — but in case one of them has got this far by accident, my dear, dear child: South Africa doesn’t need people who can think up original songs and slogans. It needs people who can run power stations — and municipalities, and hospitals, and railways and schools — in the same boring, unoriginal way they’re run in thriving countries.
Most of the online criticism, however, whether angry or fair-minded, declared the marches a waste of time; pointless gatherings that would do nothing to stop the power crisis.
To which I would reply: well, it depends.
If you believe that the marches were an attempt to stop load-shedding in the next few months, or to force Cyril Ramaphosa to fire Gwede Mantashe or Pravin Gordhan, or to strong-arm the ANC into to accepting responsibility for anything, then yes, of course they were a waste of time.
If, however, you understand that they were not an intervention, but instead, good old fashioned election rallies, then you have to admit that the DA had a pretty good day out.
First, it got to remind the country that the ANC is peddling a shameful and destructive Big Lie by insisting that Eskom is a rogue entity over which it has no control, and for whose failures it therefore bears zero responsibility. By marching to Luthuli House and parliament, rather than Megawatt Park, the DA was loudly and publicly revealing the greasy fingerprints the ANC has tried so hard to wipe away.
Second, it reminded us that there is only one way load-shedding ends and Eskom starts to recover, however slowly: the ANC must be removed from power.
Of course, being the official opposition, the DA was strongly implying that it should replace the ANC. In practice, that’s extremely unlikely. In theory, it’s highly debatable. Certainly, the DA’s critics would insist that simply slagging off the ANC again is not the same as offering a sensible, practical alternative.
The trouble with that argument, however, is that we’re so far down this drain that right now any alternative, whoever vague, is a legitimate and practical offer, simply because it couldn’t be worse than the ANC, at least not at first. After all, you must first drag the mugger off its victim before you start arguing about the qualifications of the ambulance driver and the hospital staff.
I’m not suggesting that you vote for the DA in 2024. You should vote for whichever party seems best to you.
Well, with one glaring, obvious exception.
If you’re still determined to vote for the ANC next year, all I can say is that I hope the T-shirt was the right size and the sausage roll wasn’t too stale.
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