SA should invest in youth like DA’s ‘white Zulu’

Chris Pappas is more than an example of a party winning a municipality and then nominating him as the next mayor. He is the face of what South African politics could have been – and may still be – where race is not getting in the way.

He, at just 30, is – at first glance anyway – the epitome of white privilege. He went to private schools and then the posh Hilton College in KwaZulu-Natal.

No surprise that he joined the Democratic Alliance, it might seem. Yes – and no. Like many stories in contemporary South Africa, that of Pappas is not a stereotype-simple. Pappas is fluent in isiZulu, which was the language he spoke as a child, growing up on a farm in Mooi River… even before learning English.

Yet, those who have seen him on the campaign trail and observed his interactions with black voters can testify that this is more than mere language lip service. Pappas himself puts it simply: He can speak French, too, but he has no clue about how the French approach life. But he clearly understands the concerns of the Zulu people in his province, their culture and the way they live.

ALSO READ: Meet new mayor Chris Pappas, the DA’s ‘white Zulu’

He had a head start over other white people in that, growing up with Zulu people, he became almost one of them. He never had to be told to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes because he was already doing it. And that, perhaps, is where people – both black and white – missed a trick.

Has either of us tried to understand the other, beyond hardening our race attitudes and accusing one another of either not getting over apartheid or not understanding that apartheid’s legacy still defines our country? Perhaps the youth – future leaders like Pappas – will chart a new non-racial path for us.