The bigger picture, in the wake of Mashaba’s resignation

People come and go. Politicians – to borrow from Shakespeare – “strut and fret their hour upon the stage, and then are heard no more”.

Amid the hype around Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba’s impending departure from the Democratic Alliance (DA), we lose sight of a bigger picture.

None of this should be about egos, whether any individual is right or wrong, hero or villain.

I like Mashaba, having worked for him in minor roles since the 2016 election campaign. He is a good, effective, hyperenergetic person trying to make things better. He blossomed as mayor, setting an example of active citizenship.

But nobody’s perfect. And Mashaba ain’t nobody.

Social media commentary is characterised by labels: racist, right-wing, liberal, racial nationalists, white supremacists, anti-poor, etc. Polarisation is inevitable when discourse is reduced to tweets, slogans and soundbites.

In Joburg, as in the rest of South Africa, there is an overwhelming need to redress injustices of the apartheid past. Without redress, we will not have a peaceful, prosperous future.

Redress has long been at the core of DA policy. Candidates preparing for DA job interviews are not thinking about Star Wars when they talk of R2D2. It stands for reconciliation, redress, diversity and delivery.

When you sign up, you acknowledge much about the past and pledge to help fix it. Redress was DA policy before Mashaba joined the party and it remains in place. Supporters know this.

Indeed, in his resignation speech, Mashaba said: “I have stood in front of halls filled with upper-income Johannesburg residents who, without exception, understand the need to address the unsustainable inequality in our country.”

Hear, hear. Regrettably, Mashaba also said some DA caucus members do not support redress and are more in favour of serving suburban residents. That is a misrepresentation.

If Mashaba’s perception about caucus views on redress contributed to his decision to quit, we all should have spent more time on better internal communication. I wish we’d all been more persuasive and persuadable.

Then, perhaps, Mashaba would not have felt that “in every way, the DA has been the most difficult coalition partner”.

His resignation was precipitated by the election of Helen Zille as DA federal council chair. Zille was party leader when Mashaba joined in 2014 but it is not correct to say nothing has changed since then. Perceptions shifted with the departure of rising star Lindiwe Mazibuko. Then came the exchanges between Zille and party leader Mmusi Maimane over tweets on the effects of colonialism. Who was right and wrong is less important than perceptions not dispelled.

If Maimane or his successor and Zille can be humble enough to work together constructively, party and country can move forward with hope. It is important to have a strong DA, whether in opposition or in government.

This great country must not be left to the corrupt, inept ANC, nor to the racist Economic Freedom Fighters.

Healing can and will happen. Let us avoid fulfilling the above Macbeth quote where ours becomes, “… a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.

Martin Williams, DA councillor and former editor of The Citizen.

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