Is the DA over its identity crisis?

The DA can be accused of many things, but having an identity crisis is no longer one of them.

At its first policy conference over the weekend, SA’s official opposition decided to emphatically reject race as a way of classifying people. It’s a move that sets the tone for the DA a mere two months before a critical national congress to elect its new leaders. But it also raises the question of whether it will cost the party some of its members.

In its virtual policy conference, the party adopted nonracialism — the "rejection of race as a way to categorise and treat people, particularly in legislation" — as one of its core principles. At the same time, it agreed to support redress — just not in the way the ANC has done it. For the DA, it’s about addressing the factors driving inequality of opportunity, and pursuing inclusion through economic growth.

The decision has brought an official end to one of the most divisive issues in the party. For years, DA factions have been battling over whether race should be considered a proxy for disadvantage.

Interim leader John Steenhuisen, who is expected to win the leadership battle against KwaZulu-Natal MPL Mbali Ntuli in late October, tells the FM that the DA is ideologically exactly where it was before — the difference is that it now has a backbone.

"There’s now clear blue water between the race-based quagmire, and the failure of the ANC," Steenhuisen says.

Knowing where the DA stands on key issues has been critical for the organisation — as a result of its inconsistency, it’s been described as a party trying to be everything to everyone. That was one of the issues identified by a review panel, brought in after the DA lost support at the polls for the first time in last year’s national elections.

But race in particular has been an albatross around the DA’s neck, and its responses to several racially divisive issues ahead of the 2019 elections contributed to its electoral slippage, according to the review report.

Race has also contributed to some of the perception issues the party has had to manage — most notably that it is a party for minorities. The party’s approach to race has been specifically referenced by former leaders such as Mmusi Maimane and Herman Mashaba, and recently Gauteng leader John Moodey, when they resigned from the party.

It’s no small matter in a country where the legacy of apartheid is still very much a part of the lived experience of millions.

While DA policy head Gwen Ngwenya this week acknowledged that race could be seen as a proxy for disadvantage, she says the DA has decided against that approach.

It’s a departure from previous years. Back in 2013, when DA federal council chair Helen Zille was still party leader, the DA decided that race was indeed a proxy for disadvantage. In a statement at the time — published on Politicsweb — Zille explained the DA’s policy on race.

We are unashamed of who we are. These are our policies, these are our principles

—  John Steenhuisen

She said the key questions the DA had to answer were whether the party believed race matters for redress; whether it supported black advancement; whether it supported broad-based BEE; and whether it supported employment equity and affirmative action.

"We agreed that the answer to all these questions is an unequivocal ‘yes’," she said. "But this does not mean we support the ANC’s approach to redress. Our challenge is to strike the balance between the need for race-based redress and our commitment to nonracialism."

The latest move by the DA suggests the party believes SA is ready for a truly nonracial approach.

Interim federal chair Ivan Meyer said in a statement on Sunday that the country desperately needs a fresh approach to redress and inclusion.

"Our policy [on economic justice] in one sentence is redress for the disadvantaged, not for elites," Meyer said.

He added that the party recognises that exclusion is driven by several socioeconomic and governance challenges that must be overcome. These include an incapable state, poor education, lack of jobs, low savings and investments, inadequate public health care, high transport costs, lack of affordable housing and unequal sharing of child care.

Though the issue of race has led to heated debate in the past, three senior DA members tell the FM the discussion on the weekend was not as robust as it’s been before — a charge Steenhuisen denies.

One member says there was a feeling that those who didn’t agree with the new policy knew from the outset that they didn’t have a chance of changing it — they didn’t have the numbers on their side — and so they made little effort to fight it.

It reflects a despondency that has set in among those who disagree, another member says.

But what’s next for those who don’t buy into the new vision? Follow in the footsteps of Maimane, Mashaba and Moodey?

As these members tell the FM, the issue is how one should campaign around a message that’s counter to one’s beliefs.

On this, Steenhuisen has a simple response: "If there are people who were comfortable with the DA being a weather vane and found it comfortable to be the blue jelly in the middle — where you don’t have to take a firm position either way, and you could be all things to all people — of course people like that will find it uncomfortable to be in the DA now."

If party members believe the DA has changed to such an extent that they cannot reconcile with its policies, "well, they’re all adults", he says.

"They all have agency. No-one is trapped in the DA.

"I don’t for one instance celebrate anybody leaving the DA, but people must be honest with themselves."

The DA now has a policy that is the outcome of a democratic process, Steenhuisen says. "If people aren’t happy to go out and defend that, well … it’s a time of choosing for them."

With less than two months before the DA’s national congress, it may be a critical time for those agonising over whether they can still believe in the party, and promote the road it is on.

But it’s also a critical time for the DA: it will need all hands on deck in the run-up to the local government elections next year — the first big test of its new direction on race.

The party will be trying to win back the voters it lost in 2019 (many turned to the Freedom Front Plus), while also making inroads in other voter demographics.

But it might be a tough sell.

Prof Ivor Sarakinsky, of the Wits School of Governance, says while it is much too early to say with any certainty how the polls will pan out, things could go one of two ways.

On the one hand, the DA’s emphasis on nonracialism and the denial of race could have a negative effect on its campaign, and fail to garner sympathy from a large group of voters.

Denying race in SA is a challenge, politically, says Sarakinsky, as so many people feel the impact of racial inequality in their daily experience. "To deny that is to campaign for votes tying one hand behind your back."

On the other hand, he says, the message could resonate with voters in communities that have been underserviced by the ANC, and who may turn to the DA out of frustration with the governing party.

Political analyst and Unisa professor Somadoda Fikeni says he doubts the policy will be something the average South African can get behind.

The move hasn’t happened in a vacuum, he says — it occurred against the backdrop of senior black leaders leaving the party, and all of them complaining that the DA is drifting in a more conservative direction.

"It is that stigma that the DA has fought to escape, that it has willingly sunk back into," he says.

The party’s acceptance of nonracialism will be put to the test in next year’s local elections

—  What it means:

Both Steenhuisen and Ngwenya say there’s simply no evidence to suggest that South Africans would reject the party’s nonracialism and its approach to redress.

In Steenhuisen’s view, voters will support a party that is clear about what it is, and honest about what it stands for. He believes this will draw support from voters across the political spectrum, especially given the dire economic situation in SA, which may drive voters to shop around for political options.

He believes most South Africans are obsessed less with race and more with access to the opportunities that will give them a stake in the economy — something he says the DA’s policies around economic inclusion will do.

"We are unashamed of who we are. We are standing up and saying this is us, this is our offer for SA. These are our policies, these are our principles."

But ultimately, as Steenhuisen notes, there will only be one way to know if the DA’s gamble has paid off: "It’s going to be up to the voters to decide."