I was a staunch Progressive Federal Party (PFP) supporter from the time they were founded in 1977. In 1989 they merged with the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and the Independent Party (IP) to form the Democratic Party (DP). In 2000 the DP merged with the New National Party (NNP) and became the Democratic Alliance (DA). It was a short-lived merger as the NNP left the alliance in 2001. The DA lives on as the official opposition, for now.
Through all these transitions I remained a supporter. There was a stage that I honestly believed in their policies. Now I’m no longer a supporter. There are too many worrying signs that they may have lost the plot. In 2004 Thabo Mbeki called them a right-wing party but I thought it was just some dirty politics. Now it seems to me that Mbeki may have been correct and that they are one.
The DA’s making a big issue of how well the municipalities are run where they have a majority. That is, without a doubt, true if one only looks at the finances. One can’t fault them on that. Unfortunately it’s not enough to convince me to vote for them again.
In Port Elizabeth I saw what happened when you were in charge, albeit in a coalition. The only plan you had to fight crime was roadblocks. I heard John Best, in charge of Safety & Security, ban activities which were already illegal. All that needed to be done was to apply the existing laws. I heard John Best say in a radio interview that he was driving around and was surprised by the number of people using cellphones while driving. Just noticing something that’s been a problem for 20 years doesn’t inspire one with confidence. He then warned these drivers that he will come down hard on them by using, you guessed it, roadblocks. You need not be a rocket scientist to see the flaw in that plan.
The there was your selective application of bylaws. The Walmer traders that got removed. They’ve been trading there for at least 20 years and nobody complained about them. The cafe owner in North End that got find fined for leaving his trash in a spot that didn’t suit you. The trash was collected every week by the municipal truck. From a health perspective leaving them across the road is probably better than in front of your shop. It was petty. In these two examples the common denominators? Foreign and non-white.
The direct opposite was happening in mainly white suburbs when the law breakers were white. Nothing could move you to take action against them. I had the same experience in both Walmer and Parsons Hill. No amount of complaining could move you to apply the law. I got a promise on twitter from Mayor Athol Trollip that his office will contact me. Years later, still waiting. After emailing a DA shadow minister Walmer Councillor Dave Hayselden eventually visited me. He then told me he can’t do anything as bylaws wasn’t his concern. An answer that became extremely ironic weeks later when he defended the removal of the traders by citing bylaws.
The above two paragraphs were the events that got me thinking. Was Mr Mbeki correct in 2004? Was I being naive in thinking they were a party for the people? One could only conclude that here was potential proof of both racism and xenophobia. So I started paying more attention.
I’m not even going to discuss the Zille tweets about colonialism. They tell their own story. With me now looking for xenophobia and racism I saw other small things I didn’t like. The amount of times border security was mentioned in the run-up the 2019 elections bothered me. With Trump having won an election with this kind of rhetoric I didn’t like it. Then they started fining the homeless in Cape Town. The war on poverty became the war on the poor. The DA shouldn’t be fining these people, they should be looking after them.
Lately, however, they seem to be focused on winning back the right-wing voters in South Africa. I’ve dubbed John Steenhuisen Trumphuisen because of his latest crusade, farm murders. I not trying to imply that farm murders don’t matter, they do. The fact is that farm murders account for about 0.05% of the murders per annum in South Africa. Thus 99.5% of the murders in our country does not concern the DA. Do I really want to vote for a party who cares so little for the majority of the citizens? My life, my friends, my family, my co-workers? I care about their lives as well. No sorry Mr John Steenhuisen but you and your love for the right-wing does not impress me.
I have no idea which party I’ll be voting for in the next election but I know it won’t be the DA or the EFF. I’ve never been impressed by angry nationalist rhetoric and will never be. A sad end to a long love affair.