Party congresses are mostly about rah-rah cheerleading to boost troop morale. The close knife-work between vying factions generally takes place behind closed doors before and after congress, with only a rare public glimpse of the backstabbing.
Unfortunately for blood sport fans, the kind of mayhem that characterised the African National Congress’ Polokwane conference — in which the president was metaphorically beheaded in a very public coup — is the exception. Well-organised parties deliver slick but rather dull events, much like the Democratic Alliance’s federal congress of last weekend. And to further dampen media interest, the delegates did not, as is the wont at ANC youth congresses, knife one another, nor even bare a single bottom in anger.
The top jobs, including that of leader Helen Zille, went uncontested, ensuring the seamless ascension of Zille’s protege Wilmot James to the national chair, while a motion calling for a deputy leader was seen off on the grounds that it was “a recipe for deepening conflict”. As the nearly invisible DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip has learned, Zille does not readily share her sunlight with tall poppies.
More difficult to choreograph among the DA’s old-school delegates was the election of a black African to the executive. All four black candidates for the three deputy-chair jobs failed. On the other hand, the DA Youth elected both a black chair and a black leader.
Most importantly, the DA has achieved a working relationship with Patricia de Lille and her Independent Democrats that will consolidate the coloured vote, to create in the Western Cape an opposition haven in an ANC-dominated national landscape.
This not-quite-marriage between the two Boadiceas occasioned some coy (and corny) exchanges about courtship, engagement, and who would buy the ring. But whoever ends up paying for the fingermongery, it is clear who will be in charge in the relationship — Patricia will be changing her surname to De Zille, a difficult role for the feisty and proud ID leader to swallow for the sake of a more united opposition.
Zille’s apparent preference for a long, very long, engagement, has to do with De Lille’s history. De Lille started out in the Pan-Africanist Congress but left to found the ID on a policy of avowedly implacable opposition to ANC corruption.
Then when the DA were relying on ID support to snatch Cape Town from the ANC, De Lille stunned them by cosying up to the city’s hopelessly corrupt and incompetent ANC. Zille squeaked into the mayorship by a single councillor vote.
Although politics makes for strange bedfellows, one can be sure that the DA hasn’t forgotten De Lille’s previous desertion of them at the altar. So Zille will take pleasure from De Lille’s evident eagerness now to tie the knot, with an ID-imposed deadline of September 20.
As the Daily Dispatch put it, the DA congress was like “a Roman triumph”, with Zille hailed as “the great warrior queen”, surrounded with symbols of her victory, including the constituency leaders from Mitchell’s Plain where the DA have just won the last ward previously held by the ANC. “Finally, exhibited in a chariot of her own at the end of the procession, was the other warrior queen, the defeated De Lille.”
Zille indeed sits bestride her world, but even empresses have an Achilles’ heel. Zille’s is the obsessive centralisation about her of power and control.
For now, however, there are no obviously rebellious minions in the Great White Queen’s empire. The only looming threat is how long an ANC that perceives itself to be the only legitimate political entity on these shores will tolerate the DA determinedly nibbling away at a vote that the ANC proclaims as its sole preserve.
That Zuma tolerated the recent potty-mouthed, racist tirade of Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa against that “disgusting madam and her ilk”, gives the clue.
No matter how much to try to prop up this “Great White Queen” and proclaim her the ” the great warrior queen”, her leadership of the DA is like watching a train wreck in slow motion – you can tell the carnage its going to cause because Zille’s shortsightedness in marginalizing blacks, employing the politics of fear, and temporarily turning Cape Town into the last bastion of apartheid is a recipe for disaster. The DA (NP-Lite)’s tenuous clinging to power in the WCape will be short-lived. Enjoy it while you can. LOL
Zille needn’t apologise for having a white skin. It really isn’t a crime.
“Zille indeed sits bestride her world, but even empresses have an Achilles’ heel. Zille’s is the obsessive centralisation about her of power and control.”
@William
Have you actually met Ms. Zille? Spent time in her company? Watched her work? She is thorough, organised, meticulous, attentive to detail, and does not suffer fools gladly. Her experience in this country has taught her that men ‘delegate’ everything they ‘can’t be bothered doing’ to underlings–and then grab the credit for a job well done. Men see such behaviour as ‘just playing the game’. Women see it as valuing the “position” rather than doing the job. If women seem “obsessive” about their work it may be because they know there is no tolerance for failure in women.
We have to do a better job than a man would because we lack the ‘protection’ of the old boys network to cover for them. As for Trollip’s little hissy fit about ‘lines of authority’, what he was really protesting was the right of the party leader to lead. He would not have pulled a stunt like that with a male party leader. He might have maneuvered behind the scenes but he wouldn’t it publicly unless he had a stronger power base. Helen asserted her rightful authority, no more.
“Good enough” for men is not good enough for women in public life.
What looks “obsessive” to men looks like competence and accountability to women.
@WSM thanks for your amusing take on the DA and DAID/IDDA/DIAD (take your pick) marriage.
@Siobhan, you are clearly so smitten with your leader that you seem to forget all humans have a shadow. Since you know the lady so well, maybe you should reflect some of her shadow behaviour to her.
And by the way, not all women feel the need to label some behaviour ‘male’ and others ‘female’ – we are all capable of both types of behaviour.
Maybe some women in public office should stop defining themselves almost exclusively by what they are against in men, or other parties; and instead ‘just do’ the job at hand with the gifts and talents they have. Don’t be so defensive about a well written perspective, which many people share. Take the perspective on board and work with it.
Well said Siobhan!
Viva, the the great warrior queen! The only honest party leader in SA.
Helen Zille is a great role model for young women and I hope they are taking notes…
The best man for the job is – inevitably – a woman.
This piece doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know. There are no fresh insights, no new perspectives and nothing that “Leads thought” as I would expect in an article written under the heading “Thought Leader”.
No one can question that the DA is winning votes through efficient management and honest politics. They are just not winning black votes. Efficiency and morality are not issues with the black majority. Gi’me, Gi’me, Gi’me is all that is important to them. Remember that the majority don’t pay any tax except VAT. They don’t mind how the money is spent so long as they get some.
Will the DA get stronger? Absolutely. Will they gain a majority? Never
Somewhere in the wings, there is a new political movement. They will take the country by storm. All we can pray for is that they are less corrupt than the ANC (not very difficult!)
Once that happens, true democracy will be born in Africa, the very first true democracy of Africa.
India gives us a good picture of how this process unfolds. The unknown BJP took the country by storm and changed that continent for ever. It took India 49 years to reach that point. Can we, the people of Africa realistically expect to get there any sooner?
We have another 34 years or one and a half generations to wait. Don’t hold your breath, you grandchildren will celebrate this victory.
The most striking comment in this post was about the DA Youth League; a political party that is helping to groom new leaders, deserves our congratulations, as long as those leaders become accountable and responsible. Zille may be the headmistress, but I’m certain behaviour such as JM’s will not be tolerated by her or De Lille. Certainly the latter has not always chosen her bedfellows wisely in the past; which of us who battle on alone have? I am sure she will do well with Zille though, if her priority is the people of SA. I’m pretty sure she’s always been on the right track in that respect. I admire both women and hope they have what it takes to continue the struggle (back-to-front context). Were more astute, capable black people prepared to come forward, I have little doubt we would see them breaking through into the top echelons of the DA. Their time will come and it’s interesting that Zille seems to have found a path forward that Leon couldn’t. I look forward to watching the party’s further evolution and I’m sure all of us who watch with interest will be delighted when black leaders do establish themselves within the fold.
But then, I’m a woman myself.
@Sarah
I don’t see the characterisation of two women political leaders as Emperor Queens, Boadiceas, etc. as a “well written perspective”. The use of those allusions reduces both women to caricatures.
I’ll stop viewing women’s performance against that of men the day that women are taken as seriously as men and when being a woman in public life is not seen as ‘exceptional’.
I’m not ‘smitten’ with the leader of the DA; I respect her as I do anyone who ‘walks the talk’. She didn’t spend millions on vehicles or insist on living in 5 star hotels because she didn’t like the furniture in the government residence. She is practical and effective on the job and does not use her position for personal financial gain. I admire that.
As for the ‘shadow side’ we all have, I have never denied its existence, nor Jung’s ‘Daemon’. The mark of a professional is not to act on the promptings of the ‘shadow’ side but to act for the greater good. SA could do a whole lot worse than Helen Zille as a leader.
Patricia de Lille also has my respect not least for her courage in standing up to the barrage of abuse heaped on her for ‘outing’ the arms deal. Starting a new party and getting to work was no mean feat either.
No matter the odds stacked against men, women face more. That is just reality, not personal perception.
@Dave Harris
You must have been so excited when you saw this article so that you could have yet another go at the DA and Helen Zille.
You seem like quite a bright guy, how do you reconcile your defense and support of the ANC in the face of overwhelming corruption and incompetence?
@Siobhan, your statement hereunder is very revealing. You say: ‘I’ll stop viewing women’s performance against that of men the day that women are taken as seriously as men and when being a woman in public life is not seen as ‘exceptional’.
You are giving away women’s power. Without denying the myriad visible and invisible ways in which women are denied ‘voice’and ‘presence’, there comes a time where women must change the game and stop playing to rules they object to so strongly.
Someone once said, ‘…in a struggle for power, let go of the rope’. This is not to admit defeat, but to pursue your own powerful strategy. Let the ‘powerholders’ (in this case (some) men) catch up.
And frankly, why wait for any day or anyone’s approval if your gut tells you that you are right? Just do it, even if no one applauds. Sometimes I think we women conveniently bemoan the status quo and blame men while we adopt their strategies as if there are no alternatives.
Could this be because we are too scared to change the game and be ridiculed for being different – by those very people we want to wrest power from in their own game? Surely this is the very epitome of internalised oppression?
I think this author captures the subtleties very well. Lets woman up Siobhan.
@John, generalisation of the black population as the hand that wants to recieve and does not want to give is ignorance.
We will pray for you.
You’re a woman, get over it Sarah! Siobhan has written logically and sensibly. No need for the feminist rant. Helen Zille is far and away the most competent party leader in this country, irrespective of her gender.
Yes, women like Boadicea once led armies into battle and presumably no-one cracked jokes about it until well after her demise.
I find this piece rather sexist condecending. If HZ and PDL were both men would you have said the same things? Is it not more important to note that the only viable opposition to the ANC is making the same mistake as
they did by forming alliances to gain power that could well cause the DA’s demise? Get used to women in all jobs, the Victorian era is over, thank goodness.
What a clever analogy used for the DA/ID courtship’ – and although, as you say, ‘politics makes for strange bedfellows’, it seems their possible union has your blessing…
We, in the Cape, feel blessed to have people like Helen Zille and Patricia de Lille as leaders. More and more people of every colour, creed and other previous affiliations, are taking pride in the indomitable fighting spirit, dedication and integrity these two ladies have brought to politics.
Also glad you mentioned that although 4 black candidates for 3 deputy-chair jobs failed, the DA youth elected both a black chair and a black leader. Positions in the DA are not based on race, religion, colour of skin or gender. The best man or woman for the job gets the job.
The proposed Gender Equality Act is ludicrous. Only education, experience, competence, honesty and potential should ever be regarded as criteria. Selection for jobs (not to mention,the awarding of contracts)should be based solely on who is the most qualified for it and will do it the most justice.
@ Siobhan & John
“They found something that will take the place of ten men: One woman.”
Like ‘Blonde’ jokes, this is stereotype-banter. Sarah’s right. One cannot generalise about gender.
What differentiates people is experience and attitude – and the ratio of personality-type: Controlling, Expressive, Analytical or Amiable etc. Incidentally, the last one (the worst personality-type for a leader)typifies Jacob Zuma, who does little else besides trying to please everyone with banal platitudes, and chuckling his way between broadcasting, the bank and the bedroom.
Neither should one generalise about Black people. Huge numbers of concerned Black people today – as is clearly shown by Black leadership positions in the DA Youth, object to the ineptitude, greed, self-absorbed thuggery, dishonesty, disregard for the law and unaccountability of the present ANC government.
Let us remind the ANC rabble-rousers: Whether black, white, brown,yellow or pink, we are all South African citizens. We want the best for the country and for our children. We do not need people of the insulting, racist ilk of police minister Nathi Mthethwa or our ridiculously ineffective muddle-my-way-through and do-as-I-like president. (Wonder how Schabier is doing?)
@ Sarah,
Sorry, Sarah, I guess I didn’t make myself clear. Women perform better precisely because they refuse to ‘play the game’. The way to wrest power from ‘players’ is not to play the game better than they do. It is to define yourself in terms of real performance which is what I see in Zille.
I did not declare the ‘war between men and women’. As a young woman I denied that such a thing could exist in an enlightened society. But I was the un-enlightened one. There was/is most definitely a war between men and women, never openly declared yet there nonetheless. One of the most effective strategies in this ‘war’ is not to take women as seriously as one does other men. The tactics can be subtle (“Damning by faint praise”, etc) or overt (Malema’s attack on “fake little girl” Zille keeping a harem of males), but either way the message is there: women must not be seen as powerful in their own right.
Whether subtle or overt, that’s misogyny in action and it is as prevalent as air. The goal is to divert the woman’s energies from doing her job to defending her right to do the job at all, a toxic power game.
Toxic power thrives where there is unaccountability. Zille is accountable which is why she monitors things so closely. Who wants to take blame for another’s game playing?
Being accountable and acting transparently ends the game.
@ Jeff Jones 80 Thank you, Jeff. You give me hope!
@x-cepting Good comments. (Ditto on Bert’s posts.)
@Wondering Agreed re: Z’s performance. Efficient and honest people are hard to find–and almost never in politics.
@ Bernard Right on!
@John Very interesting comparison between SA and India. Something to think about…
@Shiobhan – Sock it to ‘em person, your last comment says it nicely. If the world at large has evolved to economic warfare, then the (unnatural) war between men and women has devolved to a psychological one. What a waste of communal develepment time!
For those who are unsure what I mean: brains & muscle don’t have a sex and if you are thinking with your gonads you can’t have had much success at logic.
Guys, I don’t contesting the ability of women. The three Helens of South Africa were some of the few true freedom fighters in our continuing struggle for democracy and freedom.
Helen Josephs, Helen Susman and Helen Zille are our nations conscience. They followed their beliefs regardless of the prevailing political environment and each, in her own right, made a HUGE impact on our history.
They had a couple of other things in common. They believed strongly in both morality and justice when these were/are lacking in society and all were Jewish (says something about the amazing South African Jews). they each fought heroic lone battles for what was right.
It is the heroic lone battle part that troubles me.
On another comment about my view of the South African majority, I can only answer as the King James Bible did “… and by their fruits shall ye know them”. Our majority is the “Gi’me, Gi’me, Gi’me or I will rampage/strike/murder/embezzle/steal/defraud…” generation. If anyone feels the need to argue the point, just buy a newspaper or visit the M&G website for free if you are stingy. You can even see it on the government controlled SABC TV).
I met 5 young women at a wedding a while ago. they were between the ages of 18 and 32. They all had Mbeki Grants (Child Grants), 11 grants between the five. Two also had full time jobs. Gi’me, Gi’me, Gi’me!!!
DA and ID merger will not make any difference, for crying out loud the ID had 1% of votes in the last elections.The ANC will always rule this country.