Identity politics poisons South Africa's future
8 October 2021
The DA has taken down its racially polarising posters in Durban, placed blame on a minor functionary for putting them up, and pretended to be sorry about its mistake.
But the posters have already done their job reinforcing the party’s position as a laager for minorities to save them from being swamped… the modern day version of the paintings of the Battle of Blood River that were a centrepiece of colonial and apartheid propaganda symbolising white supremacy.
Reinforcing demographic faultlines in South Africa may translate to short-term electoral gains – as they have done for the DA in Cape Town in the past – but identity politics don’t improve citizens’ quality of life, while threatening the country’s longer-term cohesiveness and sustainability.
The overwhelming majority of Durban residents are not racists, looters or vigilantes.