---
title: "South African politicians can learn from the US"
description: "The debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden may have presented cringeworthy moments, but I’d pick it any day over the shrinking inner democratic space within political parties in South Africa."
type: "OpinionNewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Opinionistas"
author: "Sibusiso Ngalwa"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/sibusiso-ngalwa/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2020-10-03-south-african-politicians-can-learn-from-the-us/"
published: "2020-10-03T22:03:09"
updated: "2020-10-04T02:43:20"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 1024
---

# South African politicians can learn from the US

> The debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden may have presented cringeworthy moments, but I’d pick it any day over the shrinking inner democratic space within political parties in South Africa.

By Sibusiso Ngalwa · Published 4 October 2020, 00:03 SAST · Updated 4 October 2020, 04:43 SAST

## Content

*First published in Daily Maverick 168.*

It is now a forgone conclusion that the first US Presidential Debate last Tuesday (3am South African time) did not leave much to be desired. It was a disappointing shouting match between President Donald Trump and Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden.

But with 77-year-old Biden and Trump at 74, it was always going to be a duel between two ageing white men. Given their age and Trump’s time at the White House a few months shy of a four-year term, one would have expected a modicum of respectability.

Trump went into the debate with the same strategy as in 2016 with Hillary Clinton – interjecting, taking potshots at his opponent and resorting to insults.

While Biden maintained his poise and calm, it was not long before he had enough. “Will you shut up, man?” he retorted when Trump interrupted him mid-sentence for the umpteenth time.

Quite frankly the much-vaunted Presidential Debate was anything but. However, Biden was more presidential than the incumbent. His strategy to face the camera and address the American public directly may have worked in his favour.

Unlike Trump he had a message to get across, notwithstanding the interruptions by the President. If the first debate was anything to go by, and as the polls suggest – although they were wrong in 2016 – it is a matter of time before Biden ascends to the Oval Office. With two debates to go, Trump will have to do better if he is to claw back any support he may have lost.

But for all their flaws, the US presidential debates are an important part of their vibrant democracy. For South Africa, the last time we saw a debate between presidential candidates was when Nelson Mandela squared up to the National Party’s FW de Klerk. That was in 1994, some 26 years ago.

It is ironic that in a democratic South Africa we have not seen a single pre-election debate. Granted, political party faithful are hardly swayed by the outcomes of such debates, but for the undecided voters – who constitute a large number of the citizenry – it is an important tool to gauge the policies and characters of candidates.

Healthy political debates are important in encouraging an active citizenry that is plugged into the issues affecting them. They are equally important for transparency and accountability of those who seek to hold high office. Dishing out wordy election manifesto booklets steeped in verbose political-speak is not enough.

But instead of moving towards transparency, local parties are closing the space for internal debate. The ANC has long held the “we-are-not-in-America” posture when it comes to presidential debates.

The party frowns upon such debates, claiming that they focus on the individual instead of the party. This is a flawed argument, as individuals have their leadership style and character. The EFF, UDM, FF Plus and ACDP are all parties built around the image of their current leaders, without clear succession plans.

The DA has modelled itself as a party that espouses values of an open society for all – the perfect counter to the ANC’s crony capitalism and corruption. But in recent months it has been anything but. Instead, the party is now harking back to the “good old days” of Tony Leon’s Democratic Party, evidenced by its bizarre behaviour recently. Having saturated white voter support in the 2014 elections, the DA set its sights on building a coalition government after the 2024 elections. With that in mind, it fast-tracked Mmusi Maimane through the ranks and elected him as party leader in 2015.

Riding on the wave of Leon’s earlier success – having grown the DA from a 1.7% party in 1994 to more than 12% in 2004 – Helen Zille delivered 22% of the national vote when she handed over the baton to Maimane. Maimane’s mission was to grow the party and bring with him the black vote. But black voters were not convinced.

Given the party’s ambivalence on race in a country still grappling with racism and the not-so-distant memory of apartheid still fresh in the minds of many, it was always going to be an uphill battle. The party received just 20.8% of the vote in 2019. While those elections showed gains of new black voters, it was not enough to offset the greater loss of conservative white voters who went to the FF Plus.

It is now history that Maimane left the DA saying that it was not the “vehicle” to take South Africa forward. The party’s Federal Congress is less than a month away, with John Steenhuisen the clear favourite to take the top job. Not because he is the best candidate but rather the one preferred by the powerful grouping in charge of the DA.

The feisty Mbali Ntuli must be commended for her courage and principled stance – to stand as a challenger to the hegemonic faction in charge. Steenhuisen has refused to debate Ntuli publicly. Why would a leader sure of his policies and committed to the democratic principles the party claims to uphold shy away from a debate?

This month the party’s Federal Council took a bizarre decision of barring its leadership contenders from giving media interviews. This “ban” is intended to muzzle Ntuli rather than to stop the candidates from attacking each other in the media.

Steenhuisen already enjoys the privilege of being interim party leader and so he still has unfettered media access. Last month the DA closed off its national policy conference from the media. It pointed to a party slowly drifting away from the democratic principles it claims to espouse. What is the DA so afraid of?

Judging by recent behaviour, the DA has all but given up on contesting to be in government. It looks like it is content with being a sizeable, but vociferous, opposition party, modelled on the DA of Tony Leon – a party that champions the interests of white voters. The debate between Trump and Biden may have presented cringeworthy moments, but I’d pick it any day over the shrinking inner democratic space within political parties in South Africa. **DM168**