The Democratic Alliance is a cowardly political party, which abuses the ideals of constitutionalism and democracy to cover up their unpalatable ideological agenda. I'm referring here to the DA's ongoing criticism against most of President Zuma's key appointments in the public sector. The latest statement by Theo Coetzee is a case in point, in which he criticizes the appointments to the State Security Services, National Intelligence Agency and SA Secret Services (see here and here).
Mr. Coetzee's winding statements could - unfortunately - be reduced to only three progressive extracts: 1) that "...(key positions) should be filled by qualified, non-partisan officials", 2) that "...we need capable people in place...", and 3) that "we need leaders who are beyond reproach, who are accountable and upstanding". The rest remain some recycled political legends, which only serve the DA's goal to undermine the ANC leadership, and could best be defined as regressive.
It seems the DA (generally) knows who they do not want in key positions, yet they never engage the public around their preferred candidate(s). Thus they continue to barrage the public with airy-fairy, wishy-washy but desirable concepts like "competence" and "merit" without actually putting any face to the fore.
What exactly is their understanding of these concepts and how would they personify them? I suppose there could probably be a very good reason why the DA generally shies away from naming their "best person(s) for the job". If the composition of the Western Cape cabinet is anything to go by, then the DA's interpretation of "competence" and "merit" is quite scary: "75% white, 73% white male and 91% male". I don't know about you, but these statistics send a shiver down my spine. At best, this is very unfortunate, and at worst it portrays an image of apartheid reincarnated.
I venture to opine that the turn of events in the Western Cape cabinet is precisely the reason why the DA seldom puts forth its preferred candidate (s), despite the amount of criticism they dish out every second press release. By adopting this strategy, they can judge but not be judged. It could also be said that this choice of cabinet had two objectives: 1) to make a statement against Affirmative Action and Employment Equity and 2) to remind their core constituency of white liberals that the DA is their only option if they are to defeat the ANC's "swart gevaar". This modified version of the "swart gevaar" propagates that the ANC appoints "incompetent" people in key positions, and that these "Affirmative Action appointees" (read: black) are running down the country.
In fact, a fellow youngster I engaged on this subject - who also lives in Cape Town - suggested that "the Western Cape reflects exactly the kind of society the DA would love to see. We have people in Gugulethu and Khayelitsha who have never been to Camps Bay; white kids go to UCT [University of Cape Town] and Stellenbosch and black kids go to CPUT [Cape Peninsula University of Technology] and UWC [University of Western Cape]. That is how inaccessible the facilities in this city are."
Although the party has "once" named Deputy Chief Justice, Dikgang Moseneke, as their preferred candidate for the position of Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, this rare occasion could best be understood within the framework that the constitution obliged them (as an opposition party) to (at least) have a preferred candidate, but most importantly, because Moseneke DCJ had said some very unfortunate things about the ANC during some speech at his birthday party. It really baffles me, why the DA seems convinced that they could build their party legacy around undermining the ANC. It could be that there is a failure on their part to acknowledge that the ANC transcends personalities. The near two-third majority in the previous polls confirmed it.
The long and short of it is that the DA is the last political party to preach "competence" and "merit". Their understanding of these concepts appears regressive and pretty much dodgy. So, in response to Mr. Coetzee: until he states his preferred candidates for the above-mentioned posts, I'm quite content with King Herod in charge of a nursery. At least I know for sure that he cannot be Eugene Terreblanche.
Setumo Stone is a writer, social commentator and youth activist
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
