Since my election as leader of the Democratic Alliance a year ago, I have reached the following central conclusion. Unless liberals in a plural and unequal society such as ours can find credible ways of accommodating diversity and addressing poverty, the ceiling on our growth will remain very low.
The need to deal with poverty and diversity requires addressing majority aspirations and minority fears. These often seem contradictory imperatives, but they must be attained simultaneously for democracy in a divided society to succeed.
I believe that if we are to do so, we must accept that identity politics is a powerful force that cannot be ignored. In fact, it must be embraced within the open, opportunity society project that we are building.
Liberals in divided societies must ”live their values” beyond the confines of a cosy club of like-minded people who think, speak and look much the same. They must build genuine bonds of friendship, care and common interest with people across all communities. This involves immersing oneself in situations that liberals often find difficult and culturally confusing. This is one of the ways in deeply divided societies that we can start a process of value convergence on the things that matter to all human beings.
At the political level this process is reflected in coalition building, which is in its infancy in South Africa. The six-party coalition in Cape Town spans racial, ethnic and religious differences rather than ideological divisions. In this context, it has proved possible to propose policy options rooted in the values of an open, opportunity society and get broad-based support for them from across the coalition spectrum. This has been a particularly important case study in finding a platform for shared values that transcend race and ethnic interests.
This process has proved particularly challenging for many liberal stalwarts who often perceive every adaptation as a dilution of principle. But if the choice is between building a broad-based opposition to challenge a hegemonic elite or remaining a small, overwhelmingly white and ideologically pure liberal party, I generally choose the first option. Conversely, however, it is pointless to abandon our core values and principles merely to attain power. Without policies rooted in principles and values, power is worthless.
It is a matter of complex judgement where to draw the line and it is far easier to do so in theory than it is in the complexity of daily practice where compromises are necessary to build and sustain fragile coalitions between parties who may be unfamiliar with liberal tenets.
In societies shaped by centuries of racial nationalism, this is a particular challenge. If liberals in divided societies wish to grow in numbers, they have to convince racial nationalists that the vision of an open, opportunity society offers a better alternative. But liberals also have to accept that this is a difficult transition involving significant adaptations to political culture on all sides.
In building this base of common values and policies, we have to confront many tough issues that cause deep controversy. One of the most complex is how South Africa should deal with the centuries-old legacy of racial inequality.
The ANC’s answer to racial inequality is to drive race quotas in a policy known as ”representivity”, which appears, at first glance, beguilingly fair. But it has become a fig leaf for political cronyism and has nothing to do with empowering the dispossessed majority. It simply entrenches the view that people who don’t share the same racial background are fundamentally different and that only like can represent like.
Our alternative approach recognises the importance and value of diversity. But we seek to achieve this by extending opportunities, not manipulating outcomes by methods that quickly degenerate into political patronage.
This is a principle that we have used in awarding contracts in the City of Cape Town, for example. Through extending opportunity, rather than manipulating outcomes, the percentage of contracts awarded to black entrepreneurs went up by 10% in one year over what the ANC achieved, despite the fact that we scrapped the punitive quota system.
An even greater challenge for liberals is tackling poverty and economic inequality that runs along racial lines. Traditional liberal policy approaches that favour the promotion of economic growth and expanding opportunities have been shown to be the only way out of poverty in the long term.
But they have little immediate impact when great numbers of people do not have the education or skills needed to use the emerging opportunities. This can lead governments to implement short-term populist solutions — based on excessive state intervention — with disastrous results.
To limit the need for the wrong kind of state intervention, liberals must propose a credible role for the state to grow the economy and assist people who cannot find a foothold in the economy on their own.
The question is how to do so in a way that maximises opportunity, self-reliance and personal responsibility rather than creating permanent dependence on a state that does not have the capacity to deliver.
The DA is investigating a number of policy proposals that seek to do this, including education vouchers, bursary schemes, opportunity vouchers to subsidise further training costs or small business start-ups, tax breaks for companies that create new jobs to encourage labour-intensive industry and prosperity zones where small employers are freed from labour market constraints.
Liberal philosophies must be concrete and practical if they are to win support from ordinary people with real fears about their personal security — be these based on perceived threats to their identity, safety or their material circumstances. This is a great challenge, but one that liberal parties in both the developing and developed world must face head on.
Helen Zille is leader of the Democratic Alliance. This article is an extract from her address to the 55th Liberal International Congress in Belfast, Ireland.