Tweet-talking Zille is her own worst enemy
Dynamic leader must learn that her outbursts may yet erode her poll support, writes Jan-Jan Joubert
BLUE STREAK: Helen Zille at the launch of the DA campaign for Mpumalanga in Nelspruit last week
TODAY’s birthday girl, Helen Zille, has seen internal disagreements and Twitter wars threaten to drown out the Democratic Alliance’s “Vote for Change, Vote for Jobs” message in the first two weeks of the 2014 election campaign.
The expected momentum of a well-attended opening rally in Polokwane two weeks ago and a strong showing in Nelspruit last week failed to put the party in front of other, less welcome, developments: ý Zille’s Twitter wars; ý Signs of a divided leadership corps; and Caucus battles about land policy. The DA is adept at scoring political goals against the ANC, but has proved itself to be equally able to find the net by scoring a few own goals.
This year’s election campaign might well prove whether the oftstated parallel between Zille and Margaret Thatcher holds, or whether the DA leader can avoid the former British prime minister’s nasty surprise of sudden, fatal political isolation.
Unless she can turn the current dynamics around, Zille — who turns 63 today — might well learn that it is “nice to be important, but much more important to be nice”.
The first two big DA election rallies, in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, showed that the devout Christian, mother of two and premier of the Western Cape is still a crowd-pulling superstar.
But she seems to be losing the trust of the DA’s intellectual (and, yes, liberal) core, who are astounded at what are seen as pettiness and opportunism, manifested in the tone of her public and internal outbursts, uncertainty about policy and her rather recent conversion to the Thabo Mbeki fan club.
Unsurprisingly, she scoffs at the intellectual criticism and joins a long line of South African leaders to do so — PW Botha and Jacob Zuma spring to mind.
For the moment, traditional DA voters seem to hold their collective noses and vote DA because they want to prevent leaving the constitution to the mercy of a twothirds ANC majority.
They vote DA because they are too open-minded to fit the limited niches of the Freedom Front Plus and African Christian Democratic Party, consider the Economic Freedom Fighters beyond the pale and know other opposition parties are declining.
Organisationally, the DA remains a strong and well-oiled machine, as evidenced two Sundays ago at the launch of its manifesto in the cheekily chosen location of Polokwane, capital of Limpopo, bedrock of ANC support since 1994 and home town of EFF leader Julius Malema.
Limpopo is the province with the lowest DA support: it polled 57 000 votes in the 2009 elections — just 3% of the total — and ended up third, behind the ANC (85%) and the Congress of the People (7%).
The DA has proved itself to be equally able to find the net by scoring a few own goals
The choice of Limpopo was deliberate, party sources say.
First, it amplified the current DA narrative, stated by Zille in every election speech so far, that the ANC is no longer what it used to be and that Polokwane was the very place where it changed course, becoming what the DA calls “Zuma’s ANC” when Mbeki’s attempt to be re-elected ANC leader was defeated.
It was also intended to show that the DA is ready to take on the ANC in its strongholds and to raise Zille’s — and the DA’s— profile in the province.
It was probably the biggest rally in the party’s history. Freshlyground sang, as did a number of other bands.
But who were the thousands of people in the blue T-shirts?
Where did they emerge from? Does it mean the DA has gained a foothold in Limpopo?
Does it signify that the party, with Zille as its face, is succeeding more than under her predecessors in growing DA support in traditionally ANC areas?
The people interviewed for this article were deeply rural and outspoken about being DA supporters, mostly because they were strongly anti-ANC, mainly on account of mismanagement and corruption in local and provincial government.
A large number of DA staff relocated to Polokwane a few days before the event, which was as slick as it gets in South Africa.
At the rally, a group of DA computer geeks monitored the mainstream and social media.
They were ready to divert any criticism and keep the event, which was carried live by a number of broadcasters, “on message”, in spin doctor parlance.
Oh, for those experts to have been on hand and in control later that day when Zille declared “twar” (or Twitter war) on two journalists she thought had been unfair to her party in their reporting. It was ugly.
To many observers, the Twitter war — and especially the tone thereof — were indicative of the pressure Zille feels to deliver a strong result and her dominance as party leader.
Whether it will increase the standing of her and her party is open to debate, and the electorate will be the arbiter.
Suffice it to say, much of the public feedback advised Zille to rise above such unbecoming spats — a view widely held, if not currently widely aired, in her party.