For a long time now the Democratic Alliance has been battling with the accusation that it is a white party with a black face, its leader Mmusi Maimane.
The narrative goes on to say that the party is still white led and uses black people as voting fodder.
Leading up to the recent local government elections, DA opponents never ceased to warn us that if the DA took over (especially in the Metros) it would “bring back apartheid”.
I do not know whether or not these assertions have a basis in fact. And that is not why I am writing this piece. So I won’t deal with that.
Besides, I am not a political analyst. I am a reputation manager.
Contrary to the scaremongering, I do not believe that the DA can afford and will turn against black people in the new metros where they have taken over, notably Tshwane, Nelson Mandela and Mogale City.
[At the time of publishing, the jury was still out on which way the city of Joburg was going to go]
Politics is a game steeped in public relations. Any good politician does is work with perceptions. You either have to strengthen the good perceptions that exist about you.
Or work hard to reverse the negative perceptions people hold about you. Where there seems to be no perceptions, you need to create new ones.
The narratives of the “return of apartheid” have not abated, and in fact the wit gevaar message has been amplified in the past two weeks.
A friend in a Whatsapp group wrote earlier today: “Izwe limkile magwala ndini.” Loosely translated, this means the land has been stolen you cowards.
It may very well be true that where the DA governs, particularly in the Western Cape, it does not care for black people and is perhaps reintroducing apartheid, albeit in a sophisticated way.
Besides, it is no secret that within its ranks the DA still has racists and bigots who hate black people.
DA’s spokesperson for fisheries, Pieter van Dalen once referred to me on twitter as a baboon, which tweet he later removed and tried to spin it that he meant buffoon.
Of course we know who the buffoon is in this case. I made Mmusi aware of this and reminded him that it is because of the likes of Van Dalens and the Penny Sparrows in his party that the above narratives will not disappear easily.
But I digress.
But Gauteng in particular, (I don’t much about Nelson Mandela Bay), unlike the Western Cape (or Cape Town) is a black province. It will be suicidal PR for the DA to revert to or reintroduce apartheid.
The same way as the voters removed the ANC, they will remove the DA if they feel that this party is not ruling in their favour.
The DA, unlike the ANC and all the other parties, have a harder job for the next five years.
Not only do they have to work in hostile councils with an opposition that detests them, they also have in the Economic Freedom Fighters, a strange bedfellow that will never allow them to sleep on the job of transformation.
But even more critical, like any other political party, the DA will have to satisfy its appetite for power. And to stay in power, it is going to have to be on the side of the majority.
What these elections will teach us – politician and voter alike – is that in politics, unless you are a dictator, you ignore voters at your own peril. The DA will learn that soon if their intention is to ignore those that trusted them with a new mandate.
In fact, the DA’s mantra of good governance alone will not wash. Of course black people like everyone else deserve good governance that is responsive to their needs and free of corruption.
But they also want to have a government that recognises them, their past and their lived realities.
Black people will not support the DA for too long if it does not fast track black economic empowerment, employment equity and transformation of the cities it governs.
In Gauteng, the DA will have to think black, buy black, talk black and support black.
Anything short will be bad PR and we shall wave them goodbye in five years.
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