South Africa still has a long way to go to throw off its ”ethnic blinkers”, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said, referring to his party’s leadership race.
”We are still held back by the prejudices and wrong-headed decisions of the past,” Leon told the party’s Gauteng congress at the Benoni High School on the East Rand.
”In this regard, it is revealing how the public discussion around our future leadership has turned on one overriding issue: the prospective leader’s race.”
”Make no mistake, the DA must and will choose the best leader on offer, regardless of their racial identity, gender, language, religion or any other arbitrary qualification.”
”Accordingly, the party must decide for itself who is the best candidate to lead the party towards our goal of a transparent, accountable and open opportunity society.”
Leon’s statement follows a much-heated debate on who will take over when he relinquishes the reins in May.
So far, DA national chairperson Joe Seremane and the party’s Eastern Cape leader, Athol Trollip, have announced their interest in leading the party.
But Leon states that no position within the DA, including party leader, ”will ever be reserved for a person of a particular race”.
”The reason is simple: we cannot be the party that preaches non-racialism and fosters an open-opportunity society — with the aim of healing the terrible divisions of the past — if we determine our leadership based on race alone.”
He said job reservations were the most demeaning features of the apartheid era, which held back talent, ”dehumanised many and shackled the potential of the country”.
”There is no way we will renege on that position and promote such preferment in the future,” Leon said.
”It would be wholly unfair to any candidate to say he or she must merely represent a particular racial group and not be evaluated according to values, track record and policy.”
He said merit was the chief criteria of worth within he DA, ”unlike the ANC [African National Congress], which thinks it has an historical right to govern in perpetuity”.
”Let’s us consider their own succession race. It is common cause that the highly accomplished Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, is a popular candidate as future South African president … but in the eyes of the ANC he is simply not black enough.”
He said the DA was not defined by creed or colour, but rather ”where you are today and where you are going in the future”.
”For all my fellow party members in the run up to our national congress in May: may the best man or woman win.” — Sapa