On the morning of the (23 May 2011), I listened painfully to the after eight debate at SAFM entitled "has the ANC abandoned its non-racist and non-sexist principles". In attendance was the DA's Ryan Coetzee and another professor.

Firstly, I had a problem with how the debate was framed. I think the debate ought to have been framed in such a way that all political parties that just participated in elections are scrutinized in terms of the afore-mentioned principles. The way it was framed creates a scenario where the ANC had to defend herself to the DA.

The DA claims that they have taken the minority vote because the ANC have abandoned the afore-mentioned principles. It further claims that its increase in percentage terms is necessarily because of the gains they have made in the Black vote and presumably ANC traditional vote.

Well, the problem of Coloured and Indian voters that are now going to the DA, is not new. We know that the Coloured vote is a difficult vote. Coloureds in the Western Cape have never overwhelmingly voted the ANC into power including in 1994 at the back of the ANC liberating all of us. A majority of them voted for the NNP, the former oppressor. This is due to the differentials of the Apartheid system where Coloureds were treated better than Africans.

They were part of the tri-cameral parliament, they got much cushier jobs and even in Robben Island they were entitled to long pants and better rations that us as Africans and the latter applied to Indians as well. In spite of this reality the ANC took it upon itself to liberate all, black and White and formed lasting solidarity with other fellow Black men and women irrespective of their persuasion. Now the voting trends we see are reminiscent of that apartheid reality.

These trends are also re-enforced by the opposition with help from sections of the media. To Coloureds and Indians they spread a message that should they get the ANC into power they will be last in the queue.  Hence the Western Cape employment structure still mirrors the old apartheid fault lines. It's Whites at the helm, then Coloureds and Indians in secondary managerial jobs and then Africans at the bottom.

But what does the record show? If you take a cursory glance at the Provincial Executive of the Western Cape it shows that it's both lily-white and male dominated so why is the ANC being put on the dock and not the DA? The ANC's record on this matter speaks for itself. It has a Cabinet that resonates with its national democratic objectives and resonates with the constitutional imperatives. It is representative in all facets.

Secondly let's look at their DA so called delivery record and it shows that they have only delivered in white areas and few ‘strategic' Coloureds areas especially in the metro. That is why the Coloureds from outlying areas like Beaufort West still vote with the ANC. Again if you look at employment equity stats they show that Indians have far surpassed their targets on employment equity our policy of redress as the ANC.

In simple terms it means that they have benefitted immensely from our policies of redress. Coloureds are at requisite level but have not surpassed their mark but certainly have made serious gains. Wherefore would they have so anti-ANC a posture except for the Swart Gevaar as spread by the DA?

Again what we are not told by the DA is that if you focus on the Western Cape the merger with the Independent Democrats has naturally given them something to the tune of 10 % additional vote if you look at the election results of 2006. Further that its former coalition allies ACDP and UDM have also shed a combined percentage of about two percent in this election compared to 2006 and this has benefitted the DA.

This hemorrhaging of vote has also happened to other former DA contestants like the Vryheidsfront Plus. Another dynamic is the re-demarcation and the introduction of new wards which has somewhat tilted the outlook of the vote.

Clearly all of these variants do not excuse bad showing of the ANC but do enlighten us on the shifts and also indicate that DA should not smile and think that they have necessarily taken the ANC vote. This is the disingenuity of the DA and so for those of us who can discern their cunning and deceptive nature we are able to see a much more comprehensive picture.

So what is wrong with the DA and their lot? Its either members of the ANC that are accused of being racist (as evidenced by the litany of cases to restrict us from singing dubul'i bhulu or when we talk about land redistribution) or we are simply corrupt. The reality of the situation is that they are trying to derail us from our revolutionary project.

 As Thabo Mbeki puts it "Those who brought us intolerable pain and took away our days of light insist that nothing should be recalled, lest we impose on them the pain of guilt and on ourselves the pain of our memories."

They try as they always did during apartheid times to bedevil us and paint us in a light much worse than evil is painted. All of this with an eye on the levers of power in this country so that once again they can visit us with the yolk of apartheid albeit with a new name (fit for purpose maybe).

In conclusion we must congratulate the DA for managing to dent the work that the ANC has striven to do all its life of non-racialism and non-sexism. As they proclaim the black vote and the minority vote we are mindful of the fact that their core electorate and the person they care about the most, is white and mainly male.

Even how they coin these terms black vote, minority vote, indicates a deep desire to divide the nation along the same apartheid fault lines. It is also a stark indicator that the DA has now moved to the far right of the political spectrum as evidenced amongst others by the fact that they are now attracting the FF+ vote.

I must however hasten to warn that DA disingenuous strategy may backfire in that it may push the majority of Africans to the radical corner of the political spectrum. That is the only answer if we are constantly under siege and we are faced with a party that is increasingly trying to send us back to the proverbial Egypt as evidenced by the ten steps backwards the Western Cape has taken in terms of transformation and racism.

The DA and other white formations must stop hampering transformation and progress. The DA as representatives of white interests must either come to the center or face a reality that we are going to a slippery slope because Africans will never again go back to the Apartheid era however sophisticated and newly fashioned.

As for the ANC, I think all of these things indicate the urgency to deliver to our people in an accelerated pace. Give our people back their land; give them houses, water, sanitation, electricity and jobs. Any other manoeuvres to derail us must be dealt with decisively. That is why I gave the ANC my vote again in this election.

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