Recent utterances from Cope Youth Movement (CopeYM) leaders on a potential strategic cooperation with other opposition parties stand as a testament to a total lack of political education and complete ignorance about political strategy.
Such unfortunate and lamentable actions will not only harm the prospects and interests of the broader organisation in the long run, but also serves as a severe indictment against the character and integrity of the Youth Movement.
This utter claptrap has included labelling the Democratic Alliance as “imperialists”, their cause as the “white interest” and being outright resistant to even preliminary talks on cooperation while making unsubstantiated and unfounded claims about Cope’s youth.
Simplistically this can be labelled as “desperation and grandstanding“. While the casual observer can easily ignore it and move on, nobody in Cope or CopeYM should be as foolish as to not take heed of the dangerous faultlines these events have exposed.
Allegations of racial prejudice are not unfounded and in serious contradiction with the party’s vision and principles endeavouring for a non-racial, inclusive South Africa devoid of racial divisions and inequality and striving to heal the wounds of the past. As a white person I’d be very interested to know what exactly this “white interest” is and why it is irrationally associated with only one political organisation.
Racial prejudice, while a grave issue, is but the tip of the iceberg and can easily cloud a much deeper, more disconcerting, four-fold and problematic reality. Fortunately this is not irreparable, but will require an immense, conscious effort to address.
Such statements reflect an untransformed organisational culture directly inherited from the ANCYL merely transplanted into the new organisation without resolving obvious contradictions with the vision and principles of Cope. The language and tactics are virtually indistinguishable from the complete drivel emanating from the likes of Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu. This is compounded by a lack of effective political (re-)education reflected in the hurling around of words that are unqualified and unsubstantiated, even completely misused, misunderstood and irrelevant to the points at hand. This is also quite reminiscent of the ANCYL’s bandying about of words like “reactionary”, “counter-revolutionary” and “imperialist” when it is clear that they have absolutely no idea of what they’re talking about.
Additionally, the total absence of a media and communications strategy, let alone an effective one, further brings to the fore these faultlines and leaves everyone with egg on their faces. The handling of press, statements and speeches has an appallingly amateurish air about it and shouts of the desperate need for competent PR officers and speech writers. CopeYM leadership’s handling of the media has thus far made the wing one of the few exceptions to the adage that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”.
Furthermore, without even adequately investigating or convincingly arguing against a strategic cooperation initiative among opposition parties, CopeYM’s leadership’s outright rejection of talks between Cope and the DA points to a wholesale failure to demonstrate a grasp of even basic political strategy. It is also unfortunate that, despite the multi-party reach of the talks, inflammatory statements are only directed at the DA, singled out from among the three other organisations. There is also not even a mention of the potential disadvantages or advantages (which, in my analysis, outweigh the former) of such an initiative or a demonstration of a sufficient understanding of the realities of undertaking an effective local government election campaign.
Any sensible and pragmatic person would observe that where DA and Cope policies differ, they are in general not incompatible and the profiles these organisation’s support bases are not in conflict. Additionally, any sensible and pragmatic person would look at the outcomes of the 2009 provincial election results and identify strategic focus areas like the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality: an immensely strategic municipality in which the ANC, in the aforementioned elections, managed to get only 49.64 %. Thus, if the outcomes of a local government election were solely proportional, the ANC would have failed to gather even a simple majority. It will also then be observed that Cope, the UDM, DA and ID received a cumulative 47.72% in this municipality. Although this is not enough to secure a majority coalition, it is worthwhile considering consolidating and extending this electoral support to produce an opposition victory.
In short, the only way this can be done is through strategic cooperation by these parties that effectively target specific wards in which they know they have potential to grow avoiding splitting the opposition vote on ward ballots and focusing on their own particular strongholds.
Sadly, this logic escapes CopeYM’s leadership which is busy publicly discrediting and attacking Cope’s national leadership and the DA. I believe an applicable expression would be “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” because observers will just point and laugh as your house comes tumbling down.
Until all of this is resolved and effectively addressed, CopeYM’s claims to be a legitimate wing of a modern, dynamic and progressive force in South African politics advancing a “new agenda of change and hope” is an unconvincing joke, albeit a tragic one that rings hollow.
Brilliant article, well reasoned and articulated. A true jewel, unlike Julius and his Cope equivalents.
“COPE promised an ‘Agenda for Hope and Change for All South Africans’. It is becoming abundantly clear to me that ‘Hope’ is in decline, there is no ‘Change’ from ANC practices, and the only South Africans setting the ‘Agenda’ are current and former ANC members, to the exclusion of all others.
It is becoming my view that a great fraud has been perpetrated against the South African electorate and I will no longer be part of leading it. I now regard the rhetoric of ‘deepening democracy’ as totally baseless and regret being overwhelmed by the exciting potential this had for our country . I regret even more that I convinced others likewise.
It is no longer good enough to simply deny such challenges or denounce those who raise them. This displays utter contempt for the intelligence of the members and voters who trusted COPE to be different from the rest.
I would remind you that a large number of COPE voters and supporters have no history whatsoever with the ANC. They were promised, and believed in, a brand new party with a brand new manifesto. Sadly, this promise is spectacularly failing closer inspection in both policy and practice. For example, continual references by COPE leaders to former President Mbeki appear out of place and confusing given that he remains a committed member of the ANC.” Simon Grinrod
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=75227
Marius, I may not agree with you 100%, but you are a visionary. Great piece.
CopeYM has hit the nail on the head.DA stands for the continuation of the present scenario in which the economy and all its benefits rests with the white man.It is clear to everyone except those that benefit from it.
Why have a black party fighting for white privilages?It is stupid.
Total this…absolute that. You lost me. I stopped reading.
I agree fully with you Marius. The ANC has used up it’s goodwill with the electorate and not even the populist quick fixes like the appointment of JZ are working any more.
It is inevitable that the opposition will get an ever increasing share of the vote as the disenchantment grows. Very similar situation to the last decade of Nat rule in the old SA.
Well Marius, my White brother, I like your analysis of the Youth Movement politics. But in the back of my mind, as a black man, I had this uneasy feeling about “White Interests”. And really, we do need to analyse this as you say – coz I think it stems from fear, historically based, that “White Interest” is to continue holding on to wealth, and are generally not interested in the development of the poor in the country. For example – a white millionaire would not sponsor his / her black maid’s kid to go to school and university or even help build the maid a simply 3 bedroom house, while the millionaire is living in a 10-room mansion. And this analogy goes to other sectors of industry, in the workplace, and eventually politics.
But there are increasingly more white people, and have been before as well, who have taken it upon themselves to develop the lives of black people who work for them – that I acknoledge and respect.
This fear (perceived or real) though has prevented some blacks, incl. myself, from voting for, let say the DA, even when it makes sense to vote for the DA, for example in local gov elections. Cope makes it easy to vote for something different other than the ANC, without having to deal with “the fear”. Now, for me it makes sense to vote for anyone I trust will deliver community services, AND therefore discussions on co-operation by the opposition is necessary.
DA supporters are so obsessed with ANC, they even forget to make mention of DA (Doom Alliance) in their comments. Admit it, it’s difficult to live without mentioning ANC at least once a day
, it is part of a diet. But they can sure get away without saying…you guessed what. Helen Zille will sure die if she was to banned from saying / thinking ANC for an hour. No wonder ANC is popular, DA cannot stand the test of time.
Julius, you too seem not to understand the workings or meaning of strategic cooperation. It is unfortunate, because it is a win-win situation in which nobody has to sacrifice anything, adopt anybody’s interests or support base. I believe it is clear here:
“Any sensible and pragmatic person would observe that where DA and Cope policies differ, they are in general not incompatible and the profiles these organisation’s support bases are not in conflict. ”
It is a strategic cooperation, not a merger, not an echoing of the DA’s policies, principles or visions, but, even then, they are not inconsistent.
If this is to occur, it has to be a process that is a) transparent, b) involves all relevant stakeholders and c) carefully approached and thoroughly investigated.
So Marius, what you are telling us is that you are a DA suppoter, and you wan’t the ANC to loose.
Should we take your articles as fair, impartial, accurate, balanced and objective in future?
I guess the cat is out of the bag.
It’s interesting to read the post article debate comments.
What I appreciate most is seeing how blog commentary has matured over the last 18 or so months. I attribute much of this to the formation of COPE. Many strong ANC supporters have considered COPE with an open mind, and through this have worked with the DA in the previous election, and in my constituency (the Chris Hani District in the EC, a rural and strong ANC area), many are now in leadership positions in my branches. The main reason for their move has been that working with the DA they have realised there is no “white interest” and that we believe in true equality. They see that when we sit around a table we say “How can we make things better for all?”, not “How can we make things better for the white man?”.
When I hear Anele et al’s comments, it saddens me as it really takes all the hard work that COPE and DA members have done backwards. She is silly to think that speaking like Julius, will make her as popular as Julius (as the inside line reports).
There is a need for COPE and co-operation, because no matter how middle the DA is, the ANC will always paint us as the far right. As the tri-alliance self-destructs, COPE is the stepping stone to themselves and, in my view, ultimately to the DA.
Hmmm, i am speechless…