James must also be applauded

THE OUTCOME of the contest for the national leadership of the DA was never really in question.

It was clear since the two contestants entered the fray from the onset that Parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane would be a hands-down winner.

It is for this reason that as Maimane would be congratulated by all people of goodwill, the role of his defeated opponent Dr Wilmot James in standing against Maimane should not be forgotten but be applauded. Dr James had the courage to stand against Maimane even when it was evident that Maimane would emerge victorious. Maimane and his campaign staff ran not only a competent but an effective campaign.

Besides traversing many areas of South Africa, he was not afraid to display the hitherto unattributed characteristics of his personality.

But it is not Maimane that I wish to laud in this missive.

It is James I wish to extol for making himself available to stand against Maimane despite palpable odds stacked against him. By opposing the candidacy of Maimane, James has actually endorsed the legitimacy of Maimane’s national leadership.

Just imagine, had James not made himself available to oppose Maimane, the detractors of the DA would have had a field day in denouncing Maimane’s uncontested victory as a sham orchestrated by Helen Zille and white people to have a black puppet.

Look at how they have already begun to twist the confused mutterings of that longstanding ANC supporter Allister Sparks, who praised the “smartness” of Dr HF Verwoerd. If Verwoerd was that smart, how could he not see that lording over millions of angry people with oppressive policies had actually doomed his lordship? Sparks only gave myopic DA detractors ammunition to denounce the party even more. The detractors of the DA will still beat this drum because to them their minds have frozen on the iceberg of DA whiteness. They do not see black people in the DA. They only see white people in black skins, thus displaying their split and frayed if not congenitally racist perspectives.

So James has displayed political maturity by standing against Maimane while realising full well that he was on a highway to nothing.

It takes someone with a strong personality to do that.

I am not just saying this because I know James, but because he strongly sought to give their candidacy the respect it deserves.

Centurion, Tshwane ALEXANDER O’Riordan’s article “Collecting a king’s ransom” (The Star, May 7) refers.

His conclusion that South Africa’s royal houses should be radically updated or put down brings the story of Indian independence to mind.

The princely states were sandwiched between the two emerging giants of Hindustan and Pakistan while the princes were irresolute about what their future role might be.

While they dithered, the magisterial hand of Mountbatten swept them into either of the two camps – India or Pakistan.

Perhaps our own royalties need some guiding hand as to their future role.

Kenilworth, Cape Town