Zille launches campaign ‘to tell the DA story’
THE Democratic Alliance (DA) launched a campaign at the weekend that attempts to capture the party’s history and celebrate its contribution to the struggle against apartheid, at a time that most parties are focusing on next year’s general election.
The campaign — to last three months — is the DA’s “untold story” from the days of the Progressive Party, which preceded what became the DA in the democratic era.
DA leader Helen Zille told thousands of followers at a launch in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township that it was important for the party to tell its own story so it was not seen as a party that was pro-apartheid.
“When I travel around SA, it shocks me to hear that many people think the DA would bring back apart- heid if we won an election. There are a significant number of people who think the DA was responsible for apartheid, and that Helen Suzman was a member of the African National Congress (ANC).
“I ask myself how we allowed these false perceptions to take root,” Ms Zille said.
The DA has battled with the image of being a predominantly white party that could not be trusted by voters who suffered under white minority rule, and feel that the ANC is the only party that can represent their interests.
However, the 2011 local elections saw the DA gain votes in black areas. In the past two elections, the DA has embraced values associated with Nelson Mandela, claiming the ANC had veered away from the respected statesman’s values.
This irritated leaders of the ANC, who accused Ms Zille and the DA of piggybacking on the ANC’s heritage, instead of celebrating its own leaders, such as Ms Suzman.
At the weekend, Ms Zille tracked the party’s history back to 1959, when some MPs broke away from the United Party to form the Pro- gressive Party to oppose apartheid. “In those days, not many voters supported us. Despite the hard work of a dedicated team, Helen Suzman was the only Progressive Party MP elected for 13 years. She was the only MP who consistently and relentlessly fought against every apartheid measure the National Party sought to entrench in law.”
The launch was not without controversy, as DA critics noticed that Ms Zille’s predecessor, Tony Leon, is not listed among the people Ms Zille said built the party. Those mentioned included Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille — a former Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) leader who went on to establish the Independent Democrats before joining forces with the DA. Others listed are former DA federal chairman Joe Seremane, a former PAC activist who spent six years on Robben Island; Wilmot James, who was a student activist in the ’70s; and Nosimo Balindlela, a former ANC premier in the Eastern Cape who joined the DA last year, from the Congress of the People.
Ms Zille said it was the DA’s fault its story was told by its opponents, hence the party would now go out telling its version. “It does jar when our own story is defined by people who are hostile to us and who have every interest in distorting our history and presenting it as something that it is not.” She said while DA leaders often found it difficult to talk about themselves, “we can’t leave it to our opponent to define us”.
Speaking at the same launch, Mr Seremane said he was vilified by DA critics, who called him a “coconut” for joining the party. “I am a coconut, not just a coconut — a DA coconut,” he said to applause.