The opposition must get their act together

The foundation of any strong democracy rests heavily on opposition parties to keep the ruling party in line and make them account for their actions.

Parties such as the EFF and the DA have played an integral part in our political landscape by being an uncomfortable shadow for the ruling party, to the benefit of the voting public.

The storm that has erupted in the DA after Helen Zille’s temporary suspension from the party over her racist tweets needs cool heads to prevail and smart political manoeuvring for the party to survive this crisis – or face making the party weaker than their last election.

At play here are key factors that are not only a concern to DA voters, but also South Africans at large.

First, the party – whose former supporters used to consist of privileged white voters – had started making notable inroads with black voters. This was based on the premise of a party that was willing to shed its image of representing white privilege and portraying itself as an inclusive party of all races, ironically spearheaded by Zille herself.

In our racially polarised society, our race relations can be precarious at best, and Zille’s tweets – highlighting the positive aspects of a colonial system that wiped off millions of black people – was more than offensive.

It was thus understandable that many wanted to see how DA leader Mmusi Maimane would act.

In fact, this was Maimanie’s toughest test yet to those who have always suspected that he was just a puppet of a leader whose race was used as a front to attract black votes.

Zille’s unrepentant stance on the tweets, even after a flimsy apology, has not only plunged the party into its worse political disaster yet, but also is poised to alienate them from their black voters.

From perching herself on a moral high ground by criticising a corrupt ANC as Zille has pointed out the flaws of the ruling party over the years, Zille’s tweetgate is now undoing all the work that had begun to attract black voters to the party as their faith in the DA have started to wane over her hypocrisy.

The continued wrangling over Zille’s fate is not at all good for opposition politics in this country, and the voters stand to be the biggest losers.