Watty Watson: DA chief whip who could be ‘too nice’
1944-2014
WATTY Watson, who has died in Pretoria at the age of 69, was chief whip of the DA when it committed one of its most embarrassing blunders by supporting the government’s draconian employment equity amendments in 2013.
This provoked a storm of controversy both within the parliamentary DA and the DA at large.
There were accusations from its traditional support base, which threatened to withhold its support at the 2014 elections, that the DA had betrayed its non-racial principles.
DA leader Helen Zille had to apologise on behalf of the parliamentary caucus. Clearly furious and embarrassed, she called on Watson to resign. He doggedly refused.
Watson was brought in as chief whip by Lindiwe Mazibuko when she defeated Athol Trollip in a fiercely fought contest for the leadership of the parliamentary DA in 2011.
Although he was her second choice, her first choice having declined, he was in many ways
I am ashamed. This institution is an absolute disgrace
well suited for the job.
He had been a member of parliament since 1994, so he knew the ropes.
He was fluent in nine of the 11 official languages of South Africa.
He was a fatherly figure, a great humanist, very sympa- thetic towards people, understanding of their problems, accommodating and always ready to listen.
But many felt he was too nice to be effective. Really good chief whips do nice, but they also have a bit of mongrel in them. They inspire fear by coming down ruthlessly on those who step out of line.
They ensure that party policy is well understood and consistently articulated both by the leadership and the rank and file, and that members behave appropriately in committee.
The plethora of mixed and sometimes contradictory messages put into the public domain by party leaders on issues like employment equity, affirmative action and black economic empowerment reflected badly on Watson’s management of the caucus.
Inside the chamber he was regarded as too weak and indecisive. He was not much good at rising to points of order or intervening to protect junior DA speakers from aggressive heckling.
As his tenure wore on his lacklustre performance led to increasing dissatisfaction within the caucus, even from within the Mazibuko camp whose man he was.
It wasn’t all bad though. He tore into the serial abuses of parliamentary rules by his opposite number, ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga, which he said were undermining the “decorum, dignity and democratic integrity of parliament”.
On the last official day of the assembly before Christmas in 2012 he broke the well-established tradition of jovial yearend speeches with a lacerating attack on ANC MPs whom he felt were degrading parliament.
“I am embarrassed and I am ashamed,” he said. “This institution is an absolute disgrace.”
When Motshekga was fired six months later, many attributed it to Watson.
Watson was born in Matatiele
Really good chief whips have a bit of mongrel
in the Eastern Cape on November 26 1944. When he was about eight the family moved to Lesotho, where his father ran a general dealership.
After matriculating at Port Natal High in Durban he studied at the University of Pretoria, worked for the wool board and as a sales representative and marketing manager at Paragon Business Forms.
After 16 years there he joined the Kontra Group as marketing director and rose to chairman.
After a long involvement in local politics he went to parliament as a National Party MP in 1994 before becoming a founding member of the DA when the Democratic Party merged with the Nats.
Before becoming chief whip he was leader of the DA in the National Council of Provinces.
He was a Freemason and grand master of his lodge.
Watson, who was diabetic, died suddenly from complications while in hospital recovering from a fall at home in which he broke a vertebra.
He is survived by his wife, Madeleine, and two children. — Chris Barron