DA needs to address cognitive dissonance that plagues SA

If the ANC’s claim to have delivered the building blocks of “a better life for all” in the run-up to the coming elections is to be effectively challenged so as to effect change to the way SA is governed, something must give. We must eliminate or reduce the discrepancy between belief and behaviour to eliminate or reduce dissonance.

Every time we make a decision, we experience dissonance: the rejected alternative is seldom entirely negative, while the chosen one is rarely all positive.

Often our only option for reducing the discomfort emanating from dissonance is to deny, trivialise or seek justification for the unacceptable, immoral or incompetent. Moreover, our need to restore a sense of integrity can, under some conditions, even lead us to distort our perceptions of what we did.

In a little-known article published in the International Journal of Social Science and Business in 2018, the authors argued that admitting to mistakes may not always reduce discomfort, especially if the consequences are severe.

To resolve cognitive conflicts, people may emphasise supportive beliefs, minimise the importance of conflicting beliefs or adjust conflicting beliefs to align with others.

The authors said “a core of basic humanity” must surely tie all of the world’s value systems together — and if only we could locate this core might we be able to forge agreements that would minimise cognitive dissonance. The challenge lies in finding common ground among different value systems.

Easier said than done. As we approach the elections at the end of May it’s up to the opposition (largely the DA) to address this. To succeed, it needs to counter ANC efforts to achieve the opposite

The question is how. Providing examples of action and behaviour that are consistent with belief is necessary but not sufficient to change “hearts and minds”.

As the election date approaches it is crucial for the opposition, particularly the DA, to address this issue. Mere demonstration of aligned action isn’t enough; there must be genuine resonance with shared beliefs around “a core of basic humanity”.

Any failure to address this will always consign the DA to the representative confines of the traditional (minority) reservoir of historical votes.

It will always allow the ANC to regroup and tap into the reservoir it has temporarily lost, as it struggles to reinvent itself and relies on an unassailable narrative that has resonance in this regard: a resonance that relies on cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance cuts both ways though: the DA cannot be blind to the perception that it is a white party.

It’s not about numbers — it’s about the side of history you’re seen to be on that earns you a place in the hearts of people seeking redress, here and elsewhere.

The DA’s controlling leadership — as opposed to its optical leadership — is white and the historical narrative it relies on is a white voice in an overwhelmingly black society.

So the question is: if the official opposition wishes to muster more votes than (at best) 22% or 23% nationally, should it not be addressing and identifying with the beliefs held by the majority? Beliefs about the history of local and global settler colonialism, its historical and lingering effect on society — cultural, social and economic?

Should there not be an honest recognition or even a mea culpa offered about divergence from the sacrifices and efforts of others when it came to how the struggle against apartheid was conducted?

Surely this form of honest introspection and open communication is what is needed if the cognitive dissonance of many voters is to be broken and the ANC’s hold — discrepancies between belief and behaviour notwithstanding — is to be broken?

It may be too late for the 2024 elections, but the results should school political players for 2029, when real change is likely to be on the cards — driven by a reformed opposition and not a clumsy coalition of increasingly rightwing, white and black, tribal and religious elements that will never break the cognitive dissonance of the majority of voters.

This is SA, after all, and not reflective of a Narendra Modi moment in India where a communal card (of conflict) between different communities was played to tip the scales against erstwhile liberators who failed to deliver.

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE CUTS BOTH WAYS: THE DA CANNOT BE BLIND TO THE PERCEPTION THAT IT IS A WHITE PARTY