Why is somebody classified as a racist when they don’t believe on using the color of the skin to base policies on?
The official opposition in the South African parliament, the Democratic Alliance (DA) is going through turbulent times. It all started with the election of a new chairperson, which the previous leader, Hellen Zille won. Three senior leaders resigning in quick succession. They accused the DA of showing their “real color”, i.e. that of a white racist party. It is a strange claim for a party that prides itself on being non-racist. What to make of it?
When Mmusi Maimane came to power to lead the official opposition, he had a vision of making the party more inclusive. They needed appeal for more support from black voters, who have shied away from voting for them. As one of the main pillars for policy direction, Maimane said there needs to be a recognition of the injustices of the apartheid regime. By default, they will have to support policies like Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and affirmative action. These policies are the main policies of the ruling ANC to readdress the injustices of the past. Maimane’s policies were mocked as being an ANC-lite version.
The election of Helen Zille apparently was the trigger for the resignations. It obviously doesn’t help that she is a devoted fan of Twitter and as such has tweeted messages that by themselves can be ambiguous. One such Tweet read “For those claiming legacy of colonialism was ONLY negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water etc.” followed by “Would we have had a transition into specialized health care and medication without colonial influence?”. Both observations are probably right, based on the facts and statistics, but it is not appreciated in a world were most attention spans are no more than a few minutes. She insisted that she was right, but it would be like saying “For those claiming legacy of Nazis and Hitler was ONLY negative, think of the German Autobahns, Rail Infrastructure and the development of the Rocket”. That would also be true, but you would be labeled as a Nazi sympathizer these days. What gets lost in the hype of headline news however is that Helen Zille has for years been a devoted anti-apartheid activist. Her time as a journalist in the 1980’s was spent at exposing police brutality of the apartheid regime during the day, and at night she provided her home as a safe house for political activist hiding from prosecution of the state.
As a fierce liberal she has never compromised on her believes. The only way to develop a better South Africa for all is by developing policies not based on race, but on merit. Those that have been neglected by the racial policies of need more help from the state to be able to succeed. Those areas that were deprived of schools and hospitals are first in line to get a new one built, those areas with a poor infrastructure will get a better one and those areas with a lack of transport will get more buses. As a major of Cape Town and later as a premier of the Western Cape, she has always lived up to that commitment.
Under her leadership, the DA was the only true liberal party in parliament. They believe in freedom of expression, freedom in believe and tolerance for one another. As a multicultural state it is important to recognize that others have a different culture than yourself, which should not make them better or worse. Neither should the color of their skin determine if they get a job or not. Sadly, that is precisely what affirmative action encourages. Indirectly, companies are given targets of what percentage of their workforce must be Blacks. This leads to cronyism and poor leadership, as employees are given jobs based on their skin color not on merit. In the end, it is the poor who suffer once again, because companies like Eskom are so badly run, that after a 500% increase in electricity price, they produce less electricity than 10 years before, and don’t generate enough revenue to cover their debt obligations which have increased almost 5 fold. The state has to continuously bale them out, and billions of Rands are diverted from ministries such as police, education and health to pay for Eskom’s mismanagement. A far greater cost, but harder to define is that of lost private sector investments because of the unreliability of power generation.
BEE also leads to such disparities. As Chris Hani said: “What I fear is that the liberators emerge as elitists, who drive around in Mercedes Benzes and use the resources of this country … to live in palaces and to gather riches.” There is a handful black elitist that got extremely wealthy by “buying” discounted blocks of shares in companies. Even broad-based BEE deals are not correcting the injustices of the past. It is far more likely that urban employed workers subscribed to the broad-based BEE deals, because they have the knowledge of them and the means to subscribe. A resident of the Eastern Cape hinterland or neglected small village in the Freestate doesn’t benefit from them. Most of the country has not benefited from these corrective policies and probably never will. It is impossible to try and re-write the history, but it is possible to create a better future. And that is what the government should be focusing on.
That is exactly what the DA wants to focus on, a better future for all. Those who can’t afford to send their kids to school, will get help. Those without medical facilities will get medical facilities. And those who are the most vulnerable in our society will get more help. As such, they will form a more productive workforce that attracts outside capital to grow, thus creating more jobs, decent living conditions and a more just and equal society.
So how is that racist? Who knows……