Identity politics: Would you vote for a Zulu?

By Takalani Musekwa

A few nights ago I watched, Brigalia Bam, the chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, declare the local government elections “free, fair and credible”. She went on to say that no political party had objected to the results of the elections. This is despite the fact that a number of complaints were lodged with the IEC during the campaign period. But these were apparently addressed by the IEC to the satisfaction of all the political parties. It was another excellent performance by the IEC. Somebody even commented that it was such a comforting feeling that we did not have a situation where the results of elections were contested every time.

The story of Côte d’Ivoire comes to mind. Incidentally, in the same weekend, Alassane Ouattara was inaugurated as president. The question, though, is: is South Africa better than Côte d’Ivoire? Or Kenya? Or Zimbabwe? Or Nigeria? Well, on the surface it may appear so but on close examination we are facing similar challenges. It is a matter of time that if these challenges are not addressed, what happened in Côte d’Ivoire may happen here. What do I mean?

Although most voters think they’re informed and they vote on issues, the truth is that they vote according to their identity. When one looks at the outcome and voting patterns in SA’s latest local government elections, it becomes clear that we’re voting either as South Africans, black Africans, Indians, coloureds, whites, Zulus, Sothos, men, women and so on. Whichever identity people hold narrows their political options, for example whether the party is led by a South African, black African, Indian etc.

I’ve heard many black Africans on radio saying they would’ve voted for Cope but were disappointed with it. They can’t vote for the DA because it is a white party led by women and they are not white or a woman. They can’t vote for the IFP or the NFP because they are Zulu parties, or the ACDP because it is for Christians. As for the ANC, some feel it is for Zulus because it is being led by a Zulu president. At the core of these voters’ dilemma is not a shortage of political parties. It is the voters’ identity and what they think the different parties’ identities are.

It is the same dilemma that faces voters in Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Côte d’Ivoire, and indeed across the continent. In Nigeria the issues are whether the party or the candidate is Christian or Muslim, a northerner or southerner. In Zimbabwe the issue is whether the party stands for Shonas or Ndebeles, although a few voters do cross these divides. When it becomes necessary the politicians start playing with these imaginary identities to their advantage. “Imaginary identities” I hear you ask.

Yes, imaginary identities. All our identities are imagined. The truth is that we are not one of these identities, we are all of them. The success of the South African democratic project will depend on whether we succeed in building what our Constitution calls a “non-racial, non-sexist, democratic society”. It is a society where it will not matter whether you are black or white, Christian or Muslim, male or female, Zulu or Xhosa and where your political opinion will be respected. The biggest challenge in Africa is that we have many ethnic identities and language groups. The ideal nation state remains a dream.

But it is an achievable dream. It is as achievable as the dream of Martin Luther King Jnr where a black American like Barack Obama is judged by the content of his character and not the colour of his skin. African countries need men and women who will have such dreams. Dreams where politicians and their parties will be judged by their delivery to the citizenry and not by their gender, race, ethnicity, language group or region. Only then will Africa’s nightmares become sweet dreams.

Africa needs politicians who transcend the politics of identity. She needs politicians who refuse to appeal to ethnic groups, language groups, religious groups and racial groups. Perhaps the role of civic organisations and the media is to help people reconstruct their social identities so they are not susceptible to corrupt politicians who will not hesitate to use these identities for their own agendas.

Nelson Mandela was right. We must reject black domination and white domination alike, Christian domination and Muslim domination alike, male domination and female domination alike, Zulu domination and Xhosa domination alike. We must imagine new identities.

Takalani Musekwa holds a BA Hons in psychology and master of business leadership degrees from the Universities of KwaZulu-Natal and SA. He writes for the magazine Face To Face in his spare time. He has been an Archbishop Tutu Fellow since 2007. Currently Takalani is an HR executive.