In April last year, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) agreed with the equality court, which had ruled that the display of South Africa’s old flag was illegal. The SCA said “any gratuitous public display of the old flag satisfies the requirement of promoting and propagating hatred as envisaged in ... the Equality Act”. It added that this dehumanises those who suffered under apartheid.
That was then and the issue was the old flag, which the court correctly said symbolises apartheid and white supremacy in a clear and painful manner.
After the DA’s launch of its intentionally provocative television election advert — which depicts the new South African flag burning and then being restored — the question for many is what this depiction represents.
Whatever wrongs the ANC may have committed, whatever political arrangements may be under way ... the ANC could never be seen as representing the flag.
To answer this, we must understand what the flag symbolises.
Speaking at the launch of the advert in Bruma, Johannesburg, DA leader John Steenhuisen said the burning flag was a warning to South Africans.
“What you will see in this advertisement is a symbolic representation of the future that awaits South Africa if people do not vote for the DA. It is a warning of what this country’s future will look like under a doomsday coalition of the ANC, the EFF, and perhaps also MKP and mercenary small parties like the Patriotic Alliance,” he said.
But no sooner had Steenhuisen finished speaking than the advert divided the country, with many expressing misgivings about what they saw as denigration of a sacred symbol of democracy. They, correctly, said the flag was beyond the ANC, a target of the DA campaign.
DA federal chair Helen Zille defended the advert, saying the DA was trying to rescue South Africa and that the alternative to being rescued was dying.
President Cyril Ramaphosa dubbed the advert “treasonous” and “despicable”.
Former public protector Thuli Madonsela said the DA should have used other metaphoric symbols instead of burning a “symbol of triumph against apartheid”.
“Our flag symbolises our hopes and triumph over the wicked apartheid state. We protect its versions wherever we are. Some of us love and revere this flag,” she said.
“I fully understand the intention, but there could have been other metaphoric symbols to communicate the message. The burning of our flag is ill advised. Seems to show disrespect and disloyalty to the flag, which to many of us is more than a flag but a symbol of triumph against apartheid.”
Sport, arts and culture minister Zizi Kodwa considered it “abhorrent and unpatriotic”, and said he instructed officials in his department to provide legal counsel on possible recourse.
“The desecration of national symbols should not be part of election campaigning and should not be tolerated in any instance. We are taking steps to ensure that there are consequences for such actions. It is our duty to ensure the protection of our national symbols which are a product of our hard-earned democracy,” Kodwa said.
It is easy to see the divide. Consensus will be elusive. In the circumstances, many will genuflect to the law which looked at the old flag as symbolising the old order of race-based hate. The new flag, many agree, symbolises victory over the old order. It gives many hope. It transcends party political loyalties. Its burning has evidently upset the sensibilities of a section of the population. Whether setting it on fire, metaphorically, will be adjudged illegal will only become clear in time.
Politically, the advert seems, on the surface, a product of people insensitive to the historic moment we find ourselves in. Whatever wrongs the ANC may have committed, whatever political arrangements may be under way between it, the EFF and other parties, the source of the DA’s worry about the doomsday coalition, the ANC could never be seen as representing the flag.
The flag is for all of us, including those who don’t vote. The DA may insist on being right and insist on its right to upset people in the name of inculcating debate. It must be careful, though, that its insistence does not gift the ANC majority by stealth because people, in this last mile to election day, are too upset by its insensitivity to those who see in the flag hopes of a better future — with or without the ANC.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.