SIBONGAKONKE SHOBA | DA legal action against equity laws is meant to protect its main constituency —the white voters

Why would a party with ambitions to govern a country oppose the empowerment and elevation of the majority of the population? That’s the question that comes to mind every time the DA comes out to counter the transformative policy of the current government. The answer lies in the fact that DA is fighting for relevance and survival.

Don't be distracted by the tussle between the GNU partners – the DA and the ANC – over the direction of the government, there is a much bigger battle taking place for the support of the white voter. The parties involved are not hurling insults against each other in public – but are working hard to unseat each other.

The DA feels threatened by the rise of right-wing organisations such as AfriForum and Solidarity – that have been vocal in the past few months acting as the authoritative voice of the white population.

AfriForum in particular has gone as far as to travel abroad to lobby for support from powerful politicians in an attempt to claim the status as the legitimate representative of the white minority population. Parties such as the Freedom Front Plus have sort of aligned themselves with AfriForum – endorsing the right-wing organisation’s campaign to highlight the plight of white Afrikaners in SA.

The AfriForum's message has resonated so much with right wingers that if the organisation decided to establish a vehicle to contest elections or direct its voters towards a particular party, the DA will be the biggest loser.

Hence the party is upping the ante in its defence of white interests. The party’s decision to challenge the Employment Equity Amendment Act in court has nothing to do with concerns over the impact such laws will have on the economy, it is merely  about protecting the DA’s main constituency – which is white voters.

That is why the DA is protesting the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act and the National Health Insurance Act. These are laws meant to level the playing field in different sectors and therefore disrupt the comfortable position of the white population.  

Although the DA boasts about having a significant number of black voters, recent polls have shown that about 90% of white people who cast their votes in the past elections voted for the DA. The party’s monopoly over the white voter came under threat in 2019 when the Freedom Front Plus gained about 250,000 voters – which took its overall national support to 3.38%. The DA registered a decline in those elections with its support falling from 22.2% to 20.7.

The party conducted a review process which found, among other things, that the party’s core voters had deserted it because of the party’s “approach to the question of race”.  The review panel found that under then leader Mmusi Maimane there was:

• A general incoherence in the party’s philosophical approach to the issue of race.
• An insensitivity on the part of some public representatives to the feelings generated by SA’s racialised past and present.
• The party’s approach to redress policy.
• The party’s approach to racially charged public issues and incidents.
• The party’s approach to race in its own structures.  

The report spelt the end of Maimane’s reign as party leader. He himself says the report was the final nail in his coffin. He wrote in Sowetan' sister publication the Sunday Times that  the DA had no intention of wooing black voters because it has changed its strategy to “consolidate” its so- called “traditional base” – a code word for white voters.

“This approach meant that, after my departure, the DA would exist primarily to serve minority interests, acting as a political equivalent of AfriForum,” he wrote.

That is why it is not surprising that the DA is opposing any policy that seems to pose a threat to the dominance of white people in the economy and other sectors of society. However, the party has chosen a different strategy to that of AfriForum. While the right wingers are spreading lies and fear about the conditions under which white South Africans live in the country, the DA is using legal and legislative processes to block transformation.

The party’s argument that it is unconstitutional for the minister to set up employment quotas for companies  is meant to protect companies from complying with employment equity laws and shield white males who occupy the highest number of senior executive positions in this country. Helen Zille may not spread fake news about genocide like white supremists, but the more she talks about equity laws the more she sounds like Pieter Gronewald who I interviewed not so long ago.

The DA/ FF Plus argument to scrap equity laws and hire candidates based on merit is not meant to protect  this country’s economy because investors would walk away if they are told who to hire,  but it’s a deliberate ploy to lock out black people from opportunities to please their traditional base.

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