Ramphele speaks of ‘mistrust’ of DA

AGANG leader Mamphela Ramphele has criticised the Democratic Alliance, saying its English-speaking followers do not appreciate the urgent need for transformation in South Africa.

She said this was one of the reasons why the talks that could have seen her become the DA’s leader collapsed. The comments are contained in Ramphele’s autobiography, which goes on sale next week.

Ramphele reiterated her strong criticism of the DA in an interview with the Sunday Times last week. She said the party needed serious rebranding that would need to go further than merely having a black face at the top, because there was a deep-seated mistrust of the DA among black voters.

An example of how the party did not represent the aspirations of black voters was that one of her sons “would rather die than vote for the DA”.

The former Black Consciousness Movement activist laid into the DA, saying it had failed to eradicate squatter settlements in Cape Town, where it governs.

She says she learnt through her interactions with the public that neither the DA nor the ANC met the aspirations of young voters — but DA leaders were dismissive of the feedback.

Ramphele said the DA also had no way of dealing with the problem of white privilege, which was still prevalent in the democratic dispensation.

She said there were areas of agreement between her and the DA leaders during the talks, including the commonly held view that the party was wellestablished, which meant it would be easier to run compared to setting up a new party.

But Ramphele felt there was a “deep-seated” mistrust of the DA among black voters, which would not be solved by simply appointing a black leader.

Polling statistics showed that 60% of black people believe that the DA would bring back apartheid if it won the elections.

“The DA dismissed this as nonsense, but my experience was that this was what most people believed,” she wrote.

“Take [Ramphele’s son] Malusi as an example. He grew up playing with Helen Zille’s children. He was always welcome in their household. He did not doubt for a moment that Helen Zille was committed to a better South Africa. Yet he told me that he would rather die than vote DA.”

However, DA spokesman Mmusi Maimane said the DA had a broad appeal. “Our party enjoys support from South Africans of all races. Ramphele’s son may not be one of them, but we won’t lose any sleep over that.”

DOCTORS generally cannot diagnose and treat themselves unless it is a minor ailment such as a cold. In serious matters, they tend to go to other medical colleagues for help.

Agang leader Dr Mamphela Ramphele knows that all too well. In her autobiography she mentions moments when she had to go to other doctors for treatment.

But as a politician she seems oblivious to the fact that her own brand needs treatment.

In her short career as a politician who is preparing to be in parliament next year, the signs that she cannot self-diagnose are already showing.

There is widespread criticism that Agang, which she established earlier this year, has not ignited the fire that would set alight the imagination of a significant number of voters.

Mention this to Ramphele and her claws come out. She blames the media for manufacturing the view that there is a gap between her and potential voters. On the contrary, she says in an interview on November 1, Agang is doing well.

Already 100 000 people have signed up to be either members or campaign volunteers.

Ramphele says Agang has been successful in getting people to “light up” and believe a better South Africa is possible.

“What is reigniting hope is to make people imagine a South Africa that has an economy that is growing at 5% to 8% — to imagine a South Africa where there are no unemployed youths washing cars and watching parking bays but [youths who] are on the job, training, [who] are confident, purposeful young people. And that is possible.” The imagine list continues. “Imagine how many schools could have been built by the Nkandla money?”

She says the ANC government has failed in education, where early sports development could have taken place.

“Why do you think Bafana Bafana is not doing well? Why do you think we are not featuring in the Olympics? Why do you think we are not fea- turing in tennis, in all of these sports?

“When I was a school kid in the bundu, we had sporting grounds. Kids today go to school in the morning, ambling in at nine o’clock and at 12 o’clock they are ambling back home. There’s no physical activity.”

Although Ramphele is convinced that her campaign to whittle down the ANC’s majority next year is doing well, others are sceptical.

Critics say her education and wealth separate her from potential voters — she is a medical doctor who has a PhD in social anthropology .

But she stubbornly denies this charge and is quite dismissive of those who say she is aloof.

“South Africans have come to accept the abnormal as normal, and the normal is frowned upon. Suddenly it’s a problem that I am educated and monied?”

I interject and she retorts: “Well, forget about money. Let’s just take the normal thing.

“Ordinarily, people would think an educated person at least has a better chance of leading well versus an uneducated person. But not in South Africa.”

She says the ANC’s mediocrity is being accepted, even by the media.

South Africans, she says, behave like abused spouses that have resigned themselves to more abuse once their partner gets drunk.

There is a need for a “recalibration of the thinking of the nation” in order to change the psyche of a “wounded people” who accept the mediocrity of the ruling party.

That is the reason she is driving the “imagine” campaign — its aim is to get people to believe they have the power to deliver a better society.

This message is potentially quite powerful, but Ramphele’s awkward delivery style — essentially her personality — gets in the way of the very message. She is constrained and dry — so dry that it may well be difficult to get people to “imagine”.

She cannot change the ANC-dominated game by using the kind of skills that do well in air-conditioned university auditoriums.

Good politicians deliver their messages eloquently (which she does), but they also add good rhetoric. Add charisma to that and you have the magnet to attract voters.

Good politicking is about artful performance.

But, in all her educational endeavours, Ramphele forgot to enrol for drama classes. Acting and the ability to rouse people are some of the skills she gravely lacks.

She tends to talk down to people and effectively diagnoses them as docile citizens who do not know that the power to change the status quo is in their hands.

Instead of talking down to people, Ramphele’s energies would be better spent trying to adapt to the political terrain and learning to behave like a politician.

She needs a crash course, and really fast, on how to be an effective politician — and how to make people believe in what she is saying.

Leadership is not what you do to people, it’s what you do with them.

Ramphele will have come across this philosophy in her academic and leadership careers. If she wants to get people to build South Africa by voting Agang, she needs at the very least to pretend to be at their level instead of speaking from above.

If that “I know what is good for you” tone does not change, the “imagine” campaign may just end up being just another Utopian idea.