The battle for the soul of the DA is set to be decided this weekend when party delegates elect new leaders after months of internal campaigning.
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga believes the conference should not be seen as just another routine election but rather a referendum on the party’s identity.
“There is already an understanding that this is the DA pronouncing where it’s going, in terms of identity politics. Those who want to take the DA into a particular trajectory where they don’t even want to entertain affirmative action and race ... [Helen] Zille and Steenhuisen represent that way of thinking, they represent what is beginning to be understood as a particular shift of the DA,” said Mathekga.
Former chief whip John Steenhuisen has received endorsements from influential party leaders including provincial leaders, former and current chief whips. He is likely to emerge victorious ahead of the underdog, his opponent, former DA youth leader and KwaZulu-Natal MPL Mbali Ntuli.
The position of federal chairperson will certainly go to Ivan Maye, a Steenhuisen supporter, who is uncontested.
But the second-most interesting battle will be that of the engine of the party: the position of chairperson of the federal council.
Zille, the incumbent, will go toe to toe with Mike Moriarty, the outgoing DA Gauteng provincial chairperson.
Of those three positions, three white faces are most certainly going to emerge victorious. But the DA has recently pronounced itself as a party that doesn’t see colour, so if any delegates disagree with the non-racialist stance, there will be little manoeuvring room.
Therefore, what should voting delegates prioritise when casting their votes?
“The delegates should be thinking a lot about which direction they want the DA to take, what the leaders they choose are understood to represent. It’s not just thinking about the top leaders but who they are going to serve with and what that will look like,” Mathekga said.
‘This is a crossroads for the DA’
He also believes the party is at a crossroads. “It looks like it is abandoning the idea of governing by majority, but it wants to be a stronger opposition with a chance at coalitions.
“They don’t look like they want to win a majority, because that would mean embracing some popular ideals in SA. They would have to confront race, but it seems they prefer it otherwise,” said Mathekga.
Steenhuisen had been serving as interim leader since November 2019 after Mmusi Maimane, the DA’s first black leader resigned, labelling the party as “not the vehicle best suited to take forward the vision of building One SA for All”.
His resignation came shortly after another black leader, former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, left the party. Other leaders such as John Moodey have followed suit. Since then, Maimane’s projects, such as the diversity clause, have been rejected by the party. It has now settled on race and gender-based socioeconomic situations not being used as a tool for redress, along with the use of any quota to achieve diversity.
This means the DA has decided on a path of repurposing itself from a multiracial party to a nonracial party.
‘Electing Mbali is huge gamble for them’
Those who endorse Steenhuisen have expressed a firm belief that the party needs a leader of his calibre to move forward from its troubles. Little has been said regarding growing the DA’s voter share under his leadership.
He is, however, an experienced leader.
At just 22, Steenhuisen was already a councillor in eThekwini municipality, where he served as a caucus leader and as part of the city’s executive council. He led the DA in KwaZulu-Natal and served in the provincial legislature until his move to the National Assembly. This is where he became chief whip and known for his incisive criticism of the governing ANC.
But despite his extensive political career, Mathekga says there is no proof he will make a better leader than Ntuli.
“The question is, can he build this party to get it out of the situation it is in? The DA is losing senior leaders, who are not just leaving quietly but writing very interesting letters against the party. It is struggling to position itself in the SA political landscape, it is struggling to attract the electorate, it is a party in distress,” he said.
“Some members can’t imagine a DA that will be reaching to all South Africans, what that would be like. It has not really existed in that manner but has been a party for minorities.
“Yes, it opened up a little bit during Mmusi’s time, but that is the existence they have always known: leaders supporting John is just a matter of comfort in a climate of political uncertainty, where they believe in order to counter the ANC’s increasingly racialised politics, they need to move away from the centre.”
It’s a formula Mathekga believes will not bring the DA a bigger share of the vote. But it is a viable strategy for a party that has no ambition to lead SA but to be seen as a haven for minorities.
“Electing Mbali is a huge gamble. The DA has existed as a party that represented whites in the main; in a moment where there is anxiety about how the ANC is using its black majoritarianism in terms of policy, mostly being pushed by the EFF, the DA traditional voter wants what they know for sure and that is a John and Zille-led party.”
He said electing Ntuli was only worthy if the DA was guaranteed a number of certain black votes to re-establish the identity of the party and attempt to regain white votes later.
“The entry of the EFF in SA politics, its significance is not how many votes they get but how they displaced the DA as an opposition as it pushes the ANC towards the politics of extremism. The DA had no choice but to abandon centre politics because white people felt that they have no political protection, some running to the Freedom Front Plus; the DA is now competing with the likes of VF plus.”
While Steenhuisen is likely to change his prefix from interim leader to leader in two days, his toughest battles seem to lie ahead.
“If he wins, his priority should be to try to not use this victory as an indication of others having lost, he should not be a hardliner, he should rather strike some sense of unity.
“If he castigates those who lost, he will just be dividing them more. His rise has probably been the most costly exercise in the DA. It has been so turbulent – even Zille and Tony Leon did not divide the party this way.”
