South Africa’s main opposition party must transform its reputation as the voice of the white minority before it can ever hope to challenge the African National Congress’s (ANC) stranglehold on power, analysts said on Monday.
Tony Leon, who has been leading the Democratic Alliance (DA) since the ANC won the first multiracial elections in 1994, stunned observers on Sunday when he announced he would step aside at the party conference in May next year.
Although Leon proclaimed it was ”mission accomplished” after 12 years in the hot seat, he bequeaths a party that has a mere 47 lawmakers in the 400-seat Parliament against nearly 300 for the ANC.
Commentators say if Leon’s successor wants the DA to be more than a glorified lobby group, he or she will have to broaden its support base, especially among black voters, and establish a reputation as a genuine alternative party of government.
”So far [the DA] has defined itself as a critical opposition party,” said Pretoria-based political analyst Dirk Kotze.
”Most black people, I think, are not willing to vote for a party completely antagonistic towards the ANC.”
While a skilled debater, Leon’s acerbic nature antagonised many voters who still credit the ANC with leading the opposition to white-only rule.
Kotze said that the ANC’s history meant opposition parties cannot realistically expect an electoral breakthrough any time soon.
”They have the reputation and the legacy of being responsible for democratisation in South Africa, which gives them an advantage that is almost unassailable at this stage,” he said.
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille and chief whip Douglas Gibson have both been touted as possible successors to Leon.
Although both have their admirers, their white, middle-aged and middle-class status is unlikely to lead to a transformation of the party’s fortunes in a country where Africans account for over 80% of the population.
The party itself has recognised the need to do more to appeal across the spectrum of the Rainbow Nation in a report drawn up by the party’s chief strategist, Ryan Coetzee, and published in the Star newspaper on Monday.
”If we are going to become a party that is attractive to South Africans of all races, then we need to find a way to do two things: first, care as deeply about the delivery issues that effect black South Africans as we do about those that effect whites,” said the document.
”Second, find a way to bridge the racial divide on identity issues.”
Wyndham Hartley of the Business Day newspaper agreed the DA had to widen its appeal.
”The imperative remains: unless there is a credible black leadership, the DA will not offer an alternative to the ANC for black voters,” he said.
Another name mentioned as a possible successor is Joe Seremane, the party’s chairperson.
Other pundits, however, believe it will take more than a change in skin colour at the top to turn around the party’s fortunes.
”People say if the DA had a black leader it would attract black support; I don’t think that is true for a moment,” said Stephen Friedman, research associate at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa.
”The DA is seen by people as a party that speaks for a segment of South African society and that segment is not the majority.”
Gibson insisted the DA is multiracial and will choose a new leader on merit.
Asked whether the party will use the change in leadership as an opportunity to attract more black support, Gibson said: ”The DA will look for support wherever it can get it.”
”It wants to send out the message that it welcomes all colours, classes and cultures,” he told Agence France-Presse.
Friedman said the DA can improve its levels of support by reaching out to particular groups within the African community, but doubted the party would ever have mass appeal.
”This doesn’t mean opposition is irrelevant and should slip away. It has a role to play [but] the only party that can become [the] government is one that can convince people it speaks for them.” — AFP
