Race threatens to tear apart SA’s only truly non-racial party

What on earth is going on inside the Democratic Alliance (DA)?

At the moment, it seems to be a party at war with itself… with a political death-wish. As with many other things in this race-obsessed country, the issue of skin colour – and privilege – seems to be now threatening to tear apart the one organisation which had committed itself to building a truly non-racial South Africa.

The recent row over DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s use of a car loaned to the party by the Steinhoff empire (criminal enterprise, some might argue); and then the strange case of the house he is renting, have seen Maimane come out fighting.

And his target is clearly that “racist” and “old guard” DA leaders who, allegedly, cannot stomach a black person running “their” organisation.

The organisation has had to do some serious introspection about the 400,000-plus voters that it lost in the most recent elections.

Undoubtedly many of those were conservative whites, worried or angered about the DA becoming “ANC Lite” in adopting similar policies on critical issues like land.

But others were also concerned about the DA’s alliance with the populist EFF. What is worrying – both for the DA and the country at large – is that some of the hitherto moderate black people in the DA, like Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba, are agreeing with the proposition that the DA is fundamentally a party for whites.

Mashaba has indicated that if the DA doesn’t correct, he will have to consider his options. If he does split from the DA – and its moderate black support goes with him – Helen Zille, who is angling for the federal chair position, could find herself left with shattered fragments of a liberal party.

And that would be a shame, because South Africa needs a strong, principled, opposition.

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