The hip-hop world has a term “(player) hater”; this refers to one who gets by on hate, malice and envy. A hater doesn’t aspire to be as rich/famous as the object of his envy, the “player”, but rather to bring his nemesis down to his level and, if he can’t, drag his name and reputation through the dirt as a sort of spiteful release/resolution. What does this have to do with anything? Well, latterly our political landscape is littered with haters of all kinds. And I find that sad, for surely our political intellectual capital cannot be so depleted?
Quick question first-up: when trying to win favour with a desired member of the opposite sex, what’s likely to be more successful: denigrating all the other guys/ladies at the bar, or making a great case for oneself? Or another one, at a job interview, do you try persuade the company why you are best suited for the job, or do you ask for the other candidates’ CVs and go through them, rubbishing all that they have put forward? Hell, when you get to the pearly gates, are you going to try to get in by presenting yourself as virtuous, or by making everyone else seem more heathen than ye?
Now lets apply this to politics, if a party is campaigning for the vote and a mandate from the electorate, are they better off putting their case on the table or using every opportunity to rubbish and point out others’ shortcomings without making a clear case for their alternative? I am no political expert or anything expert really, so my reasoning here could be very flawed, but it makes sense to me so I am comfortable running with it unless persuaded otherwise. The thing is I have always believed this: if you want to present yourself as a better choice than another person/organisation/team, the logical thing to do is to present your credentials and let them speak for themselves. Right?
Going around shouting your rivals names from the rooftops only ever does one thing and that is to reinforce not only their existence in people’s consciousness but that somehow you only exist as a sort of “anti-them” and not in your own right. Mudslinging has never been a trait that I find myself attracted to. Especially when the target of your mud is doing a darn good job of shooting themselves in the foot on a daily basis.
So if, as in our political context, you have a dominant ruling party and many small so-called opposition parties, making that party the focal point of most of your public pronouncements only serves to inform me that yes, they are in power and they dictate the terms, both in Parliament and in the public discourse. Now why would I want to align myself to an organisation that refrains from expressing its won identity and chooses instead to discuss the merits of another? The worst is doing this in an election year, when surely the focus should be on winning people over to your side and getting yourself established in the electorate’s minds as a legitimate leading organisation.
For example go to any news website and search for any of Helen Zille/ Shikota/ Lekota/ Mbhazima/ Holomisa and most of the results will invariably relate to the ANC in one way or the other. This is in an election year nogal! What gives people? Surely these parties do have their own identity, which we would want to buy into? So why do they not put their best foot forward instead of pointing at the emperor’s nudity from behind podiums?
Would it be too much to ask our opposition to release one press statement that doesn’t mention the ANC at all? Don’t just knock ANC policies. I know they are flawed, everyone does, so give me alternatives then — a better way — and spell it out too. But if I have no alternatives, why not go for what’s kept the country running (however shambolically) for 15 years? The myth about the devil you know didn’t arise out of thin air you know.
Good point but does the media report the low key boring parties platforms, mostly no.
A case in point, in 1999 during our 2nd free election Tony Leon visited Durban (my home town) for a series of meetings etc. I attended one at a smallish church hall in upper crust ‘white’ Musgrave and he gave the best speech/advice i have heard then or since about what was needed from Whites to make our young democracy work – pulled no punches and laid it on the line. During question time he did a bit of ANC and Nat bashing etc ie like all opperstion parties worldwideincluding the ANC when it as not in government
Next day i looked for reports of the speech and could not find it in any newspaper— why? because they all reported mostly was just on his ANC comments. The SABC was worst, throughout the day they headlined these ANC comments and those alone so his great worthwile exortion to Whites to get down and make our democracy work was ignored by the media.
This is the main reason why Blacks in general never liked Leon, they never ever got his positive messages which were usually more than his negative comments every time he spoke.
So get your own house in order before asking others to get theirs in order ie report the whole message not just the negative ones.
Brent
@Siyabonga
This is very well said. I don’t think a huge number of our compatriots understand this; they are so fixated at being anti-ANC they have even forgotten how tohave policies of their own.
If I were running an opposition political party, I would have launched my election manifesto around September or so and give myself 6 months for people to fully understand my party’s message. That is how Obama did it, drilling one message over and over in a space of 21 months.
You nailed it bro, to every word you said. Surely all those negetive responces one reads in this site have their mouths shut. It takes long time to read such a good thought. Keep it up.
Ntshingila
You are 100% to the point,I have been asking myself the same question all along,the truth is you have represented my views very well.Thank you.(The myth about the devil you know didn’t arise out of thin air you know…………yes man.
I could not have said it better. Good points indeeed.
Brent is right. The media only report on the opposition parties when they bash the ANC. The only way they therefore can get media cover is by ANC bashing. A vicious circle.
Nothing on the “snakes” and “cockroaches” comments the ANC high command leveled against Cope?
Come on man. At least try and be objective.
@ John
I write about all one ever hears about is ANC this,ANC that and how that retards the public discourse, and you get on my case for not discussing the ANC?
@ Lyndall, I would stop well short of saying the only way the opposition get media coverage is by bashing the ANC. The only people who get worse press than the ANC are Zanu-PF. To be fair it is all too deserved for both parties so I have no sympathy for them in that regard.
Siya, you’re right…but for fear of sounding like a stuck HD-blueray-cD….read below
Thats always been my problem with the DA, but every now and again when DSTV offers no value i check out the debates on SABC2&3. Jeff Radebe was being pommeled by some random panel and Zille kept on shooting true every time.
i saw Matthew Phosa on some rally frothing at the bit and attacking COPE on yesterday’s news. Nothing new there. The Mshini’s acolytes are just doing their jobs too well.
Bantu is another case in point. he says something vague and then rants against the ANC. as a result if you ask the average person at your nearest Chicken Licken what the UDM stands for, they wouldn’t have an answer for you.
Our media is also to blame, these days nothing of sense is worth publishing. All the “revolutionary”, “counter-revolutionary” and “corruption” cases get reported. If Zuma isn’t on the front page apparently people don’t buy.
Hence the people on the ground are used to that type of rhetoric and want nothing that is real. Our Diet has become high-fat player slops.
correction…”Our Diet has become high-fat player-hatin slops”
“I know they are flawed, everyone does, so give me alternatives then — a better way — and spell it out too. ”
My thoughts exactly, but I wouldn’t dare Vote ANC again.
All is fair in love and war.
Even more so in politics, one need not stretch themselves too much to realize the truth of the above statement. Politics is war – in this country, as in most, but more literally in South Africa due to our volatile heritage; most peoples opinions of politics and political party’s is largely based on our history, a history dripping with the blood of innocent people on all three sides (the 3rd force IS a side) – therefore to most politics equals war.
I agree that South African politics is full of pettiness, this is a sad state, but this is the fact. More and more our politcians and community leaders are behaving either like spoilt little brats with a silver spoon still firmly lodged where the sun refuses to shine, clamping it there as long as possible refusing to relinquish power or they are behaving like the fat kid in the playground taking his ball and going home because he wasn’t picked for the team. Between COPE and the ruling party and their internal squabbles, you can make up your own mind as to which juvenile they represent. Don’t get me started on the rest of the opposition.
My point though is that it is war, and everything goes, whether overtly or covertly – mud is being slung all over the place by absolutely everyone – leave a kid in a puddle of mud and there are bound to start flinging it everywhere – SA politics, people’s personal affairs, their misconduct in times of weakness and oversights in judgment are that puddle of mud.
It is war and all is fair – if you were to ask political party’s to campaign in spite of the ANC, it would be asking them to be noble, to lift their noses at the mess they perceive the ANC to be and present their own cases however dull they may be. Only noble creatures are capable of such, capable of seeing – still far off – what should be within their scope and what is beneath them.
Not that this approach does not have it’s pitfalls, ask Mr. Mbeki about that, but I would definitely prefer the bulk of our political party’s to have a political snobbishness based on sound beliefs in their platforms, planned reforms and solid political knowledge so that they may rise above the pettiness, recognize what is beneath them, ignore it and focus on the pressing tasks at hand which may include improving our education system, alleviating poverty and fighting the HIV pandemic. They would have enough to work with – this country has a distance to go still.
I am such a creature – noble – I am aloof with people who drag my name in the mud, I don’t get involved even in discourse with them about it. I pity their pettiness, but understand their reasoning.
Although if I were a political party in the current SA’n landscape I also would probably be knee deep in the brown stuff trying to fling it at everyone else while trying to keep as clean as possible so I could be the only good one, gaining my teachers favour at play-school – it is that childish.
Ukurabha (being a player-hater) works – almost every time, even if it is just to sow a seed of doubt however minute. It is the extent of that success that one has to gauge whether is worth the effort and loss of respect.
Dope piece, Ntshings – as per usual.
In hibernation,
The Sumo