Cutting off the nose... - Thought Leader

By Dave Harris

Cutting off the nose to spite the face is exactly what the leadership of the Democratic Alliance (DA) leadership has been doing all along.

The DA’s active lobbying against the $3.7 billion World Bank loan to SA has cleared all doubts as to whose interests the DA really serves — certainly not the majority of South Africans! The granting of a World Bank loan of this magnitude to SA was historic and has the potential to create thousands of jobs by alleviating our critical energy needs. Furthermore, this loan comes in the midst of the worst worldwide recession in almost a century!

Government corruption?

So the DA claimed government corruption as a reason not to grant the loan. This is most puzzling, since the only reasons cited by the US and UK for abstaining from the vote, were environmental concerns. Abstentions were understandably, since the issue of carbon emissions is a highly visible political hot potato in most developed countries. So the US and UK’s refusal to buy into the claims made by the DA, shows just how little credibility the DA has internationally.

If corruption was truly their concern, surely they could have worked with the ANC in installing checks and balances to ensure transparency and accountability of the funds, instead of unilaterally opposing the loan?

A new power plant means more jobs!

Even the Obama administration, in their grudging abstention did not oppose the loan since they clearly understood its significance to SA’s acute energy needs. So why doesn’t the DA understand this? So on one hand the DA castigates the government for being incompetent in addressing SA’s energy needs during Eskom’s blackouts but now suddenly works against addressing our critical energy needs. Just like the old National Party that tried to justify apartheid, the DA exemplifies hypocrisy!

Why does the DA act in this manner?

The German word schadenfreude, pleasure derived from the misfortune of others, succinctly captures the DA’s attitude. This strange form of schadenfreude seems to arise in societies where the false belief of racial superiority clouds good judgement. The Roman Empire, Germany during WW2 and South Africa during apartheid etc.

It’s all about clinging to power

The upper echelons of the DA leadership is still dominated by whites, almost two decades since liberation, who came from generations of indoctrination across all levels of society that preached racial superiority. We see evidence of this across the spectrum in the Western Cape (WC) where they skilfully use fear-based politics to gain power with the help of the large coloured voting bloc. This apartheid mindset has created and illusion of order and efficiency in the WC while blacks (Africans, coloureds and Indians) are slowly marginalised and the silent process of gentrification of the prime residential and commercial areas of the WC are currently under way. Ironically, Cape Town used to be one of the most cosmopolitan cities in SA even during apartheid!

To retain control of the WC, the DA, together with their cohorts in the media is desperate to paint the ANC as utterly corrupt, amoral and inefficient. The danger of SA becoming like another Zimbabwe is the fear they constantly play on. Fear-based politics worked wonders for the Republicans in US, but look where George W Bush took their country — right to the brink of financial collapse! Fortunately, the masses in SA cannot be fooled all the time. The coloured vote in the WC will be instrumental in whether the DA continues to retain its tenuous grip on the WC.

For an opposition party like the DA to have actively lobbied against the loan given our economic and energy needs was a colossal blunder which will surely come back to haunt them.