Black parties are ineffective
SINCE the dawn of our democracy, whites have lost their political power but, interestingly, the black government listens to their minority voice more than that of the majority of the people of this country.
After the dawn of our democracy, the now defunct National Party (NP) became the official opposition party. When the NP died, the DA became the official opposition. The pertinent question is: why do we have a white official opposition in a blackdominated country?
Who is voting for the DA? It ’ s probably the conservative whites, but is their vote enough to make the party an official opposition? Whites make up about 12% of the nation ’ s population. So that means there are many blacks who are voting for the official opposition.
But why are black parties weak and inef- fective? What are they doing wrong that makes them fail to attract enough votes as compared to the DA? Is there hope that we will ever have an official black opposition? Only time will tell.
As we move closer to our fifth democratic election and political parties strengthen their election campaigns, the silence of black parties is deafening. Instead, they are busy writing their political obituaries with their internal power struggles.
The only black voice that is being heard is that of the new kid on the block, the EFF, which is under the leadership of former ANCYL leader Julius Malema.
EFF is a hit among the youth and is advocating for economic freedom in our lifetime.
Malema ’ s party is giving the governing party a run for its money, but will it garner enough votes to depose the DA as the official opposition? Pundits hold a unanimous view that the EFF won ’ t pass the 10% threshold.
Black parties need to pull up their socks to take their rightful place in our politics.
What are the consequences of having a white opposition? Our politics will continue to run along racial lines and the ANC will continue to dominate our politics for many years to come. That is not healthy for our democracy.
Thabile Mange, by e-mail