In Eusebius on TimesLIVE, former DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip explains how his respite from politics, and venturing into consultancy, allowed him to see anew the experiences of ordinary South Africans across towns and cities in the Eastern Cape and elsewhere.
Having observed the effects of state capture, he decided to re-enter politics after engaging ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba on some crucial questions about his party’s constitution, and hot button issues such as immigration and the accusation of xenophobia levelled at Mashaba and the party.
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Trollip conceded that ActionSA needed to build party structures within communities swiftly so these can be leveraged in the run-up to the 2024 national elections.
He also conceded it is not ideal that he was appointed rather than elected as interim Eastern Cape leader of ActionSA, but justified the move as necessary in the context of a new party not yet having fully fledged structures and sufficient membership to allow meaningful leadership contestation.
Trollip identified unemployment and low growth as signature issues on which ActionSA must distinguish itself in terms of policy proposals that can be presented to voters as feasible and desirable.
He admitted, however, that while pragmatism is preferable to ideological purity, the party must have an offering that is clear and coherent. This , he conceded to McKaiser, will require disagreement about ideology and policy between leaders, which would have to be puzzled through.
He suggested he remains committed to liberalism but is ultimately a pragmatist. He described, for example, how he has shifted in his views on race, regretting previously making a comment that it is hard to be a white person in SA. That, he said, was “a mistake” and ActionSA would have to grapple with historical realities.
He ended the discussion with acknowledgment that there are stylistic and communication differences between himself and Mashaba. But he insisted the leaders of the party can complement each other rather than go to war .
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