No-one could call Helen Zille indecisive and not forthright in expressing her views. For this Helen Zille was christened Godzilla. Unlike Jacob Zuma who attempts to placate all factions within the party, Zille would not equivocate about her viewpoint. What will her legacy be and what is the prognosis under a new DA Leader, probably Mmusi Maimane?
A past in serving black causes
In spite of all the spurious and racist accusations against Helen Zille by the ANC and other black organisations, Helen Zille has an unsullied indisputable past in not only fighting the Nationalist Party but also assisting its victims. Zille began her career in journalism in 1974 as the political correspondent for the anti-apartheid nemesis of the Nationalist Government, The Rand Daily Mail.
It was the death of Steve Biko in September 1977 whilst in police custody where Helen Zille made her initial mark. The Minister of Justice and Police, the honourable Jimmy “It leaves me cold” Kruger, announcement that Biko had died as a consequence of a hunger strike, that Helen’s tenacity came to the fore. She and her editor, Allister Sparks became convinced that Kruger’s story was a cover-up for some nefarious deed. Helen managed to track down the doctors involved in the case in order to confirm her suspicions.
Jimmy Kruger-The Minister of Police under whose watch Steve Biko was murdered by the police
The Rand Daily Mail broke the story as “No sign of a hunger strike – Biko doctors.” It was investigative journalism at its best. The consequences were immediate. Jimmy Kruger threatened to ban the RDM while Helen was the recipient of death threats. At the subsequent Press Council hearing, Allister Sparks and Helen Zille was found guilty- their crime “tendentious reporting.”
As a matter of principle, Helen Zille resigned from the RDM along with Allister Sparks when the paper demanded that they tone down the papers “equal rights rhetoric.”
Allister Sparks-the editor of the Rand Daily Mail who encouraged Zille to ascertain the truth regarding Steve Biko’s death
It is not for the prying open the mendacity of the Nationalist Government for which Zille should be remembered but rather her involvement in the leadership of the Black Sash Movement and the End Conscription Campaign during the 1980’s. Both these organisations were regarded as not only unpatriotic but also a threat to South Africa’s national security.
It was now that Zille and her husband took a step which was fraught with dangerous consequences. They offered their home as a safe haven for political activists during the 1986 State of Emergency, and she was temporarily forced into hiding with their two-year-old son. Later Zille was also actively involved in the South Africa beyond Apartheid Project and the Cape Town Peace Committee.
It was probably for these reasons that Helen Zille in an attempt to understand the black point of view that she became fluent in Xhosa.
The Rand Daily Mail story, authored by Zille, that exposed the cover-up of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko’s death in police custody
Her more recent achievements
For me personally, Helen Zille has filled the interregnum role in the DA between a purely white political party and a party comprising a significant component of black support. In 1994, Tony Leon led a party of only seven MP’s out of the total of 400. Tony Leon managed to consolidate the white vote behind the DA but without significant support from any other population groups.
Tony Leon
On Zille’s ascension to power she inherited a white party with 50 seats and with no possibility for future growth. All being a white with its political baggage, Zille with her struggle credentials and view of a truly non-racial society, managed to convince Patricia de Lille to throw her lot in with the DA. With the promotion of de Lille and her Independent Democrats within the DA, it now represented the aspirations of both coloured and Indian voters who were rapidly becoming disillusioned by being marginalised by the ANC.
The 2014 General Election saw this strategy bear fruit with a 22% increase in votes which translated into 89 seats in Parliament.
With Zille’s understanding that to further increase its share of the national vote, the DA would have to become more acceptable to the black majority of South Africa, she took an extraordinary gamble: to merge with Agang and appoint Mamphela Ramphele as its leader.
Number of DA Seats in the National Assembly
This was a serious misstep and miscalculation but in concept it is what was required as it would propel the DA from being a white led – albeit it a white with deep-rooted struggle credentials – to being black led. Furthermore Mamphela was an intelligent and astute individual with a prestigious CV. Furthermore her impeccable struggle credentials stood her in good stead as a voter magnet. What was lacking was that neither person had the consent to enter into a merger. Zille had allowed her personal rapport with Mamphela to override her good judgment.
Foremost amongst her legacies is a political party which has doubled in size [from 50 to 98 seats] since her ascension to power in 2007. Nothing can detract from that achievement. More than anybody else in the DA she understood the necessity of attracting significant black support.
Mamphela Ramphele
Like a Margaret Thatcher, she was impervious to criticism and was politically “tone deaf.” This was Thatcher’s ultimate downfall and also Zille’s fatal weakness. This is evident to the stream of tweets, some 37 300 since their commencement. It was the content and not the quantum that drew gasps of displeasure. Her favoured terminology includes the following: “Professional victims”, “Professional blacks”, “Professional whites”, “The Aids Gestapo”, “the herd of independent minds”, “Professional offence takers”, “The chatterati”, “The Tweetpolice”, “The DA tweet police”, “Atheist fundamentalists”, and “Outrage manufacturers”.
Whilst possibly being accurate, they do not endear themselves to existing and potential DA Voters. It was one such tweet which gained national notoriety when she classified migrants to the Western Cape as refugees.
Tweeting
By the same token, Zille’s rash decision not to allow the Western Cape government to renew its subscription to the Cape Times due to offence taken was ill-advised and contrary to free speech precepts which the DA strenuously espouses.
Perhaps I am being overly sensitive and am intolerant of stark generalisations of character, but I have increasingly found the style and approach not conducive to debate and contestation. In this process she has undoubtedly alienated some constituencies within the DA. Whatever the truth of the assertion that Zille was pushed, it must have become apparent to Zille that she was past her sell-by date and needed to be replaced by a leader who would take the DA to the next level.
Tellingly Zille has conceded that a new leader is required for the next evolutionary step on the ladder. Sticking with the ladder theme, if Zille voluntary descended from the ladder due to her acrophobia – fear of heights – history will judge Zille sanguinely. Unlike a Thatcher, she acknowledged the inevitable and conceded her position.
Helen Zille
After Zille’s gone
What hurdles does Mmusi Maimane face?
For the most part, Maimane is well placed to tackle these challenges not from a political experience point of view. It goes without saying that his meteoric rise has not exposed him to the full depredations of political contestation but it is within his personal domestic situation that the racial travails of South Africa have been exposed.
Being from a bi-racial family – his wife is white – I can well imagine the hoops and hurdles that the couple has had to clear in the racially charged environment in South Africa. Many of the comments and situations would have been extremely hurtful. By all accounts, his wife is seldom on display and most people are unaware of the fact that his wife is white.
Mmusi Maimane and his wife Natalie at the SONA
With one foot in the white world and the other is black world – he was born and raised in Soweto – Maimane is ideally suited to cross the divide between black and white. Without alienating its core constituency, Maimane will unveil a “values charter” which will contain seismic shifts in tone as eventually the DA acknowledges formally the need for redress and transformation in South Africa.
In no small measure the emphasis and tone of the DA will then resonate with the political realities of the New South Africa. From a purely merit based approach with its philosophy of Adam Smith’s invisible hand firmly entrenched, the focus will become more blurred as the upliftment of the formally underprivileged people with be brought into the equation.
Adam Smith
In this context, Maimane has been quoted in the FM as follows:
“This agenda will usher in a new phase for the DA and will be implemented with policies that stimulate economic growth so that everyone benefits, not just one race. “This [new agenda] is not a threat. It is an opportunity, a huge opportunity for all, and must be implemented with a suite of inclusive policies that grows the economy and puts the country on a prosperous path, and not one that robs Peter to pay Paul.”
In this endeavour, Maimane has to succeed. Exactly how he will sell this change of tack – to take a sailing analogue – will unfold – unfurl for the sailing cognoscenti – over the next six months. Any change in policy will be the cause of uncertainty and mixed messages
For example, the DA’s policy already officially endorses black economic empowerment and details how it would make laws more broad-based. It also supports the use of a scorecard to measure skills development, enterprise development and social investment. But this has not resonated with all DA members. There have been mixed messages from members who battle to reconcile how this fits into the party’s non-racial stance and its “open society for all” line.
With Mmusi Maimane at the helm, there will be more than a shift in tone. Certainly his style is less combative than Helen Zille’s but with a better understanding of black aspirations and thinking, he will be more in tune with that target market. Without alienating the current white backbone of the party and their core value of merit, he will have to assuage their sensibilities whilst simultaneously attracting young blacks to the cause.
Zille – a final thought
None of this must ever detract from the vital role that Helen Zille has played not only in the DA but within South Africa as a whole. For that the DA must be truly grateful. During her tenure she has overseen the stupendous growth of the DA to become a major force in South Africa’s political life. Instead of the lone wolf howling in the wind, it now makes a vital contribution to democratic South African both as an exemplar of what good governance looks like in the Western Cape but in the longer term it will be paradigmatic of truly non-racial South Africa that Maimane is already experiencing within his domestic situation.
To Helen Zille a debt of gratitude is owed by the DA.
She has left it in a far stronger position than when she was appointed its party leader.
For that South Africa should be truly grateful.