Monday 27 November 2006

Leon resigns! Not a moment too soon...

Here begins my political diary. I hope you find it interesting - interesting enough make some comments!

South Africa's political landscape had a big ugly crevasse filled in on Sunday when Tony Leon announced his resignation as leader of the official opposition. He will not stand for party leadership next year. Business Day's take was, as usual, the best on the matter.

Leon has done a lot for the DA, but in my humble opinion hasn't been particularly smart as an opposition politician. He seemed pathologically incapable of recognising that the ANC is the elephant in the living room, and that one must move the furniture around if one is to avoid breaking anything. In such a reality, you simply cannot be as confrontational, condescending, patronising, and rude as Leon often has been, no matter how frustrated you are at the elephant's often seriously dodgy tactics in parliament and elsewhere. Failing to recognise this condemned Leon to a chihuahua-esque laughing stock on more than one occasion, each time eroding what legitimacy and credibility he had left. It also encouraged others to do things that really irked one of South Africa's greatest liberals, Helen Suzman.

He, and the party, also still seem to believe that a charismatic black leader is not required for growth. Anyone in SA will tell you otherwise. However, while having a black leader is in my opinion necessary for growing a South African party's support base, it is clearly insufficient - just look at the terrible performance of the ACDP, or any other non-white non-ANC political entity.

However, three things about the DA are commendable. One, they've recognised the need to grasp the opportunity that Leon's departure presents to change how the party operates and, above all, how it is perceived by it's non-traditional support base. (Note to incoming DA leader - having a "CEO" position in one's party doesn't endear one to the poverty stricken masses. Having your official website available in only english and afrikaans is also probably not terribly smart).

However, altering perceptions will be particularly challenging, because the second thing the DA is very good at - exposing incompetence and corruption in the ANC dominated executive and the departments it runs (e.g. health) - is exactly what raises hackles among the ANC's fundamentally emotional (i.e. irrationally loyal) supporters. These represent the vast majority of ANC's votes.

Third, the DA is generally very good on economic policy. Yes, it favours markets, and yes, it favours a relaxation of some historically-driven, politically necessary legislation. I see a lot of what the DA says as fitting in with this approach to economic policy. And no, it isn't terribly far from the Mbeki-era economic policy framework (which I think, given prevailing circumstances, and despite our ongoing problems, is going rather well, and much better than its predecessor or anything the unions or SACP are proposing. Fixing this mess will not happen in 10 years). But it is the only constituency in the country saying what it is saying (on economic policy, particularly labour markets and small business development), and I believe what it is saying to be worthwhile (most of the time). But I guess this is a whole different debate...

Overall, the DA, warts and all, seems for now to be the only real hope for classical liberalism in this country. Let's hope Leon's leanings haven't wrenched them too far from the their Progressive Party roots.

2 comments:

Greg said...

Bravo! You have shamed my Lindsay Lohan post, although my picture was much better.

Alex said...

Heavy stuff for first thing on a Tuesday morning but should make for some interesting politicing over the next few months...