People’s darling may be our saving grace

DA leader’s spiritual background may spur him to serve, rather than assume powers towards self-aggrandisement

SOUTH Africa is slowly metamorphosing into a tessellated political landscape.

This is not a bad thing for a vibrant democracy where the needs of the people should overshadow the needs of a political party. A political party that aims to lead – in the words of our president – “till Jesus returns” is a fate we do not need.

We see this terrible fate in a Mugabe-led Zimbabwe whose people we are harbouring against a regime that is criminally stripping them of their right to raise their children in the country of their birth. South Africa must not be allowed to become another Zimbabwe. So when the official opposition becomes a viable voice, we should welcome the challenge it offers to the ruling party to deliver on promises and to keep the ship on an even keel.

During apartheid, the official opposition in the Progressive Party had a voice in Helen Suzman, Ray Swart, Colin Eglin, Zac de Beer and much earlier, Harry Oppenheimer.

Theirs was a liberal tradition with a cultural bias. Out of this manure of upper-class money and high principles emerged the Democratic Party and then the DA. But there was always the sense that white privilege was speaking for the oppressed black majority.

The irony is that the very people who you are trying to help become perpetual victims unable to rise above themselves. Helen Zille understood this dilemma well when she attempted to change the DA from within and brought people aboard to represent themselves.

It couldn’t have been an easy battle to change old mindsets, but she succeeded when she began to change the men on the chessboard.

Her battle was an uphill one. Under an umbrella of the official opposition, there are many factions as disparate as a patchwork quilt. Yet the end result is one of succeeding in rapidly increasing the voter numbers to an impressive 22% amounting to 4.5 million supporters and 89 seats in Parliament.

Also of significance is the composition of the voters who appear to be increasingly young and black.

But the battle to eradicate the white liberal stigma of its origins is a hard one in comparison to the impressive history of the ANC.

Perhaps it is a story of the tortoise and the hare, for the ANC it would seem, has lagged behind its people whose rallying cry is for equity and fair play.

As new party leader Mmusi Maimane says in a youtube interview: “We didn’t leave the ANC, the ANC left us to enrich themselves and make jobs for pals.”

So who would have thought the newly elected DA leader would have such overwhelming support (88%) from people who can’t always agree on how they see the world of politics.

This was evident in the scramble for power between an old party hack, Wilmot James, and young Mmusi Maimane in their battle for the leadership of the party. At 34, Mmuzi Maimane is a cut above his peers. He is good-looking, wellspoken and clearthinking with charisma and chutzpah.

When the ANC came into power 21 years ago, Mmuzi was a 13-year-old adolescent who grew up in Dobsonville, Soweto, and who later voted for the ANC. He appears to have been raised in a stable family situation with three siblings and a strong matriarchal figure.

His grandmother was a practising Roman Catholic and his parents both lived in Soweto. He is not a private-school product, which works in his favour because he emerges from the people and understands their reality. He can hardly be called a coconut. He is well-educated, holding three degrees, two of which are Master’s degrees. He speaks in various ethnic languages.

He is a cut above his peers. He is good-looking, well-spoken… with charisma and chutzpah.

His choice of marriage partner in the attractive UK-born Natalie Maimane adds an interesting dimension to his profile. Will he be criticised for being not quite of the people, or will he be valued as a multicultural man of the future?

So what of his future? A cartoonist bleakly foretells a doomed future of a hanging rope on a sinking platform. Can his fate be likened to that of US President Barack Obama? Will he be set up to fail? Will he peak too soon?

Maimane has much to offer in his passion and energy to lead in the tradition of a “servant leader” whose spiritual and religious background may spur him to serve rather than to assume powers towards self-aggrandisement.

He is rooted in his identity and understands the dynamics of racial consciousness. To the claim by some that they “can’t see colour”, his retort is that this is not possible: “I am a black man and any one who can’t see this can’t see me!”

While President Jacob Zuma tends to treat Maimane as a schoolboy, Julius Malema dismisses him as a good school principal. Both disregard his ability to deal with hardcore politics. Only time will tell. In the meantime, it would seem we are in line for some real fireworks.