My remarks are addressed to the DA (Democratic Alliance) because it is the only party within South Africa which, however imperfectly, puts the national interest above the self-interest of its leadership and because of its demonstrated capacity to perform the basic functions of a modern government. In these fundamental respects the ANC Alliance (as broadly defined) is not even a contender and shows no evidence of becoming one in the foreseeable future.*

What I fear, however, is that while the burden of history requires imagination and courage the DA is found wanting. It has chosen the path of conventional politics when what is needed is a stupendous effort of liberation to free itself and the country from the mental and material legacies of our past in order to change our fundamental political trajectory.

The key challenge history poses for South Africa is to bridge the multiple divides around ethnicity which has enabled a corrupt and incompetent party to remain in power for 25 years and which threatens the existence of South Africa as a functional state. Early dreams of serving as a model of racial reconciliation and economic progress in Africa have fallen completely by the wayside as the country staggers under the weight of looting and the collapse of basic governance.

It seems to me that the DA has to make a binary choice between its present chosen brand of gradualist politics (which it calls the politics of the ‘long-haul’) or an audacious effort at changing the fundamental political narrative. At first glance it would seem that sensible pragmatists must chose the current model and wait for the tides of history to push South Africa towards the DA brand. And that is indeed the choice the party has made, but the tides of history do not seem to be flowing their way.

On the contrary, on all the major indices of human well-being – economic performance, social welfare – the direction is due South, or at best remains stagnant. The current failure to ensure a functional vaccination policy and the open looting around the provision of basic health services during the Covid crisis once again emphasises how far down the scale South Africa has fallen.

A reading of the daily news and the lived experience of the majority of citizens confirms the decay of our social fabric. The country is in the unusual position of being a staging point between those with skills and ability leaving for opportunity and security overseas while desperate migrants arrive from African countries even further down the scale of state failure than we are.

In the 25 years of democracy rather than reversing the downward economic trend we have not created a single new source of wealth generation; except perhaps for tourism and that has been mortally wounded by the Covid pandemic.

The DA is largely relying on the ANC’s partial or complete electoral collapse in order to gain access to a position of national influence. That seems unlikely on its own. The ANC has demonstrated considerable political adroitness, unhindered by ethical boundaries, considerations of rationality or concern for the national interest.

It has the built-in advantage of being identified with the dominant ethnic group and in its calculus of incentives, self-interest and political survival lead the pack. Furthermore, their outlook and political strategy is in line with the identity politics dominating the public narrative in the Western democracies and the rise of authoritarianism as a serious contender to liberal democracy globally. Our media still tend to treat them as the authentic voice of South Africa.

The point being made here is that the apparently safer policy of the so-called ‘long haul’ is as risky as any other and the rewards are dubious. All politics is ultimately of the ‘long haul’ variety and the current safety-first brand of the DA may not be optimal.

So what are the alternatives? Given that I’m basically in step with the broad vision of the DA for South African society our differences are mainly points of emphasis and methods. Since these are key to South Africa’s future we need to look at them more closely.

My argument rests on the following thesis. The key to our current political predicament lies in the cluster of multiple, massive inequalities, especially cultural and economic, impacting the majority black African population of the country. This in turn is an outcome of our history.

In short, black South Africans labour under the burden of huge cultural and economic disadvantages (and their multiple negative consequences) which make the idea of a level playing field, a key component of DA policy, out of the question. This is the hard reality which some elites from within the black community itself are able to leverage to their own advantage, and to the detriment of the future of the country.

I’m arguing that South African politics cannot be normalised without recognising and addressing this reality. It should be at the forefront of political reform in practice, and the DA policies will remain inadequate until that challenge is accepted and foregrounded in its political strategy. The question is how can that be done within the dynamics of political competition without destroying the electoral prospects and internal coherence of the DA?

To some extent these issues have been addressed in my recent articles on this topic (PW 12 Jan, 7 March, 15 March). The detailed operationalisation of a racial redress strategy is one that would be undertaken by the DA itself with, preferably, broad public participation. It should be flexible enough to respond to political and social exigencies.

Redress may include an element of gradualism in the sense that  reforms will partly depend on the rejuvenation of the economy and as public acceptance allows..

It’s worth taking a brief look at some related issues and options arising out of proposal:

1. The DA already includes acknowledgement of the ‘evils of Apartheid‘ in its Values and Principles page and the necessity for redress in its vision of ‘freedom, fairness, opportunity, and diversity for all‘ vision. I have no doubt of its sincerity but that’s not enough. ‘Racial redress’ or ‘racial equalization’ must be foregrounded in its policy and mission statements, in its political rhetoric and its political decisions.
2. Part of its task is educational. It must educate the public on the many interrelated dimensions of the problem  – eg. economic, educational, cultural, symbolic and social. It will need to accept that in this project symbolism is important and thus ethnicity whenever possible should be part of the diversity mix. This is not an argument for outcomes-based quotas or for elite enrichment. Communication cannot be one-way but rather be part of an on-going robust dialogue between the party and the citizen of this country.
3. As part of this dialogue the DA will need to point out the difficulties of racial redress in a multi-racial country and the ways such a policy can be (and is) abused by ideologues or to advance personal agendas. Racial redress must be made compatible with the ideas of personal and community responsibility and non-racialism. No country can be a success in the absence of a merit-based value system co-existing with commitments to social solidarity. Overheated expectations will need to be dealt with. In many ways achieving such balances is the most difficult part of the redress initiative and the DA will need to demonstrate considerable skill and sensitivity.
4. The DA will need to emphasize the absolute need for economic growth for racial redress to be achieved. Failure to foreground economic growth is tantamount to perpetuating the evils of Apartheid. Racial redress and economic growth go hand-in-hand: one cannot advance at the expense of the other.
5. The party should seriously consider the option of voluntary reparations in various forms and include this as part of the redress and solidarity program.
6. Finally, it will be important to avoid pitting statism against free-enterprise as binary opposites. They are both necessary to avoid getting caught up in ideological name-calling and to achieve desired outcomes.

I believe such a programme has enormous potential to revitalise the spirit of reform in this country, enhance the political profile of the DA and encourage more constructive public debate in place of the social opera politics of the present. In such a revitalised and energised political environment the ANC-EFF’s nihilistic strategies will have much less purchase.

This constitutes an enormous challenge to any political party and will require high levels of political will and some serious humility. But as things stand the DA is failing to make inroads with a basically admirable but rather uninspiring and bureaucratic policy basket. The party needs to revitalise itself and the country. These go hand-in-hand.

* Rejecting the reform potential of the ANC does not deny the possibility of a split within its ranks and some realignment of political forces within this country. Right now that seems a remote possibility and the ANC has withstood repeated public exposure and condemnation without falling apart. While this, in the short-term, is good news for the elites within the ANC it is bad news for the country as a whole. At the same time it must be said that the DA does not appear ready to assume a national role. The racial redress initiative being proposed can be made part of a national growth initiative with a particular focus on black recruitment.   

Addendum: Law and Order

In proposing racial redress as a fundamental plank of DA policy I have been careful to couple this with economic reform. I have been less careful to couple it with 'law and order' issues, or more broadly the nurturing of human capital in South African society. Redress without the balance of expectation and personal responsibility can easily degenerate into an aggressive victimhood and dependency mentality and politics.

This will include at a minimum the thorough re-professionalisation and revitalisation of the police force with a special emphasis on community policing. Law enforcement must run the full gamut from domestic violence and petty crime to lawless and antisocial behaviour in public places and on the roads. Special units will need to be established for specific kinds of crime, notably organised crime.

Work at the coalface of enforcement must be backed by prison reform, vastly improved salaries, greater judicial efficiency and better recruitment procedures. Attention may need to be paid to legislative and other obstacles to effective law enforcement. We must reverse many decades of lawless and antisocial behaviour, some of which has been instigated for political purposes, which have seeped into all levels of society.

In short, from public behaviour to actual crime to family life we must build the norms required of a functional society. This will require intelligent tinkering with many aspects of society including 'law and order' issues, schools, homelessness and vagrancy. All this must go hand-in-hand with improved economic conditions, rising employment and the maintenance of responsible democracy.

Under present conditions such proposals smack of wishful fantasising - and as things stand they are. But it must be our urgent business to embark on an explicit program of multi-pronged reform elements of which are discussed here as well as previously. Without such deliberate social-political changes the downward spiral in which we are currently trapped can only intensity.

Mike Berger