I have been thinking about two questions over the past few weeks.Of the available political leaders, who would you rather have leading South Africa at this time of crisis? And who did you vote for in last year’s general election? Or maybe I should ask: who will you vote for in next year’s local government elections?
I am fascinated by the apparent adoration bestowed on President Cyril Ramaphosa by those who might have been doubtful about him, but were definitely antagonistic towards the ANC not too long ago.I am thinking particularly of those who, in apartheid parlance, would have been described as white. I know there are people other than whites who also did not vote for the ANC but for the purpose of this column, I want to deal with this group.
I am nervous to make comparisons between Ramaphosa and Nelson Mandela because I think it is unfair pressure to place on the former, but I think this time it is justified.
After the 1994 elections I always wondered about the many whites who gushed about Madiba but never made the effort to vote for him or the ANC.
I suspect, now, many whites speak positively about Ramaphosa’s leadership without necessarily feeling moved to vote for him or his party in next year’s local government elections, or by-elections before then.
Mandela, through his focus on reconciliation, saved whites from what would have been a justifiable black backlash after years of colonialism and apartheid. The world would have understood if we took out some of our anger on our white compatriots.But Mandela, through his astute leadership and management of black expectations, allowed whites to continue feeling comfortable in South Africa.
Many of them exploited economic opportunities that were not there during apartheid and their standard of living actually improved under a democratic government.
Ramaphosa, through his leadership during the Covid-19 crisis, is saving the lives of potentially millions of South Africans, black and white. Many whites acknowledge this but will probably not be thankful enough to vote for him, because they will see a vote for him as a vote for the ANC.
Granted the party has since its unbanning been its own worst enemy, especially during the Zuma decade, and this would not have endeared it to many outside its die-hard support base, which is mainly black.
But things change, including political parties, and the ANC of today is in a much better space than it has been for many years despite some major challenges, such as factionalism, which is present in all political parties.
One only has to look at the statistics by Statistics SA to know that most white South Africans are as well off today as during apartheid, with some even doing better. Some blacks have benefited but most are worse off.
I suspect that nothing the ANC or its leaders do will ever be able to convince most whites to support them. Even 26 years after we became a democracy, South Africans are still obsessed with race and base most of their major political decisions, including who they are going to vote for, on skin colour.
I understand our apartheid history and how the nationalists ruled through divide and rule, but I have been baffled that this appears to be the case still today.
It is something that I have thought about a lot and, as always, I am open to be persuaded to think differently. In fact, I hope I am wrong.
(First published as a Thinking Allowed column in the Weekend Argus on Saturday, 18 April 2020)