The future of SA's opposition politics

By Andy Carolin

Contrary to popular perception, opposition parties in South Africa actually intend on making themselves relevant. It was with cautious trepidation that I heard about the possibility of an unspecified cooperation between the DA, ID, UDM and Cope. What will loom ominously above any collaboration between them is the fact that each of the parties have themselves been forged from other organisations in desperate moments of political opportunism.

Given, however, the extreme importance of building the capacity and influence of opposition politics, we may be forgiven for momentarily putting aside our cynicism. Offering almost infinite potential, the parties already have access to considerable resources, administrative experience, and a capacity to mobilise their supporters. That said, harnessing this potential will require some important and difficult decisions: if opposition politicians are committed to building a moderate and accountable alternative to the ANC that is both sustainable and relevant, the leaders will have to relinquish their political fiefdoms and merge to form a single party. Parliamentary coalitions or “working agreements” simply will not facilitate meaningful and long-term opposition to the ruling party.

If opposition politics in South Africa continues to be dominated by small political personalities that represent partisan minority interests then their advances will be slow and insignificant, posing innumerable threats to democratic constitutionalism.

The membership of the different political groupings needs to construct a new political identity, relinquishing both their current loyalties and their uncompromising approach to formulating policy. Bringing together some of the brightest minds in the country, a united opposition party would need to mediate alternative ideologies, and formulate new proposals accordingly. Navigating the ideological rifts between leftist intellectuals and traditionalists on the one hand, and disparate economic proposals on the other, merging political identities may prove to be far more difficult and acrimonious than my idealism would let me believe.

Without a merger of this nature, however, there is little doubt that opposition politics will continue to drift towards the fringes of relevance.

Pessimism about a unified opposition are justified, especially if one considers that this patchwork quilt of personalities would probably include the former leader of an apartheid-era homeland, the official opposition — the supporters of which include those that “never voted for apartheid” — as well as political opportunists who abandoned the ruling party when their popularity was beginning to wane. The success and sustainability of a unified approach therefore hinges, I contend, on reconstituting the national leadership of opposition politics. Not only are Patricia de Lille and Bantu Holomisa antiquated and divisive in a post-transitional democratic order but Helen Zille and Athol Trollip’s racial demographic imposes an almost impenetrable distance between the DA and the larger electorate whose support they require. Combining the opposition parties will not only bring together a new generation of dynamic thinkers but it will also open new spaces for public debate.

I can’t help but feel somewhat uncomfortable about this particular amalgamation of interests, and seriously doubt that the current political leadership in South Africa possesses the selflessness and maturity that our democracy so desperately needs. Until we see the emergence of insightful and courageous leadership, opposition politics will fail to forge a sustainable alternative to the ruling party.

It is time that political parties, and the public whose votes they so desperately covet, engage with each other on the role of parliamentary opposition and how best to mitigate the ANC’s political hegemony.

Andy Carolin is completing his Masters in English at the University of Johannesburg.