The Democratic Alliance’s performance in the 2004 election was only “a qualified success”, with the support it received — particularly from black voters — falling short of expectations, says DA political strategist and MP Ryan Coetzee.
He was talking ahead of a DA federal council meeting, held last week. The council decided the party will review its election performance and come up with suggestions about how the DA can increase its support.
“We would like each province and region to give feedback on their impressions and lessons learnt so that we can improve our performance,” said DA federal council chairperson James Selfe. “In some parts of the country we were less successful in mobilising our support. We have to find out whether it was a mechanistic thing, a political thing. Was it something we did?”
While the DA says the increase in the number of votes it gained is greater than that of any other party — more than 400 000 compared with the African National Congress’s extra 279 000 votes — it has not hit the 30% support level it predicted it would receive with its alliance partner, the Inkatha Freedom Party.
Instead, DA support increased to 12,3%, up from 9,5% in 1999. Analysts say there is no doubt the DA has consolidated the opposition vote, especially from disenchanted New National Party voters. But it may have reached the limits of its support.
The DA’s own post-election number- crunching shows that expected support among black voters did not materialise — despite time and resources spent touring rural villages, townships and the Cape Flats. However, the party has doubled its number of black MPs to 12, and introduced six new faces among its 50 National Assembly members. Its National Council of Provinces member, Motlatjo Thetjeng, also the Limpopo chairperson, is the party’s parliamentary deputy spokesperson. The DA has long been bedevilled by the perception that it represents white interests. But DA chief whip Douglas Gibson says this is because of the manner in which the ruling party depicts its opposition.
However, with the arrival of new blood on the opposition benches, he believes the DA is more representative of South Africa’s demographics: “It is now more difficult to paint us simply as representatives of a minority.”
This is an issue that new black DA MPs have already had to confront. “The fact is, I’ll be called a sell-out. I have a right to choose,” says Bhekinhlahla Mnyandu, a former academic at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and now science and technology spokesperson for the party.
Currently reading for a PhD in political science, he says he identifies with the liberal values that underpin the Constitution. “This is me. If I embrace these liberal views, why not the DA?”
Enyinna Nkem-Abonta, the DA’s spokesperson on trade and industry, believes he will be able to make a difference. His experience as the former general manager: budget in the KwaZulu-Natal treasury, and a stint as researcher at Ntsika, the government’s enterprise support agency, will come in useful.
“I do believe in the values of liberal democracy. I’m not prepared to sit on the fence and criticise. It is better to get involved,” he explains.
The DA’s defence spokesperson, Moulana Rafeek Shah, is a former Muslim Youth Movement activist.
He believes liberation is not yet complete, while the gains of freedom are at risk of being undermined by unemployment, crime, HIV/Aids and nepotism or corruption.
Shah rejects the notion that having a critical mind means being unpatriotic. “I’m patriotic. I love my country. [My] criticism does not stem from hatred. It is simply because I care.”