On Monday evening, 22 September, while attending a friend’s book launch, another friend asked me if I’d seen radio host Anele Mdoda’s interview with Helen Zille that morning on 947. I hadn’t, and the noisy book launch wasn’t the right time to watch, so I saved it for later.
I’m sure that by now many have seen the heated interview, with Zille getting particularly hot and bothered in a tense exchange.
The subject of the interview was Zille’s recent confirmation as the DA’s Joburg mayoral candidate, a highly unimaginative move that, I must say, induced an eyeroll from me.
As I watched the interview, I chuckled to myself at the acerbic missiles being launched, particularly when Zille’s hackles were raised as Mdoda told her: “Black people struggle to see you wanting to forward them.”
Zille retorted: “Anele, when were you elected as the spokesperson for all black people?”
Although Mdoda is obviously not an elected spokesperson for black people, the exchange struck me as an important moment for South Africans to reflect on. It revealed a point of inflection in political dynamics and how the issue of race that has shaped the country will not go away simply because people refuse to talk about it.
Zille cut the profile of an incredulous white liberal who was gobsmacked that a black woman would not only have the audacity to challenge her white saviour complex, but also have the temerity to take her on without backing down, despite being goaded with personal attacks, on one of the city’s biggest radio stations. It has a diverse listenership representative of the voter base Zille is vying for.
A colleague asked: “Do you think Auntie Helen is following the Trump playbook?”
It dawned on me then that although Zille should be challenged, she is not to be dismissed, because her kind of politics does have an appeal to some, even to black people. This is because she represents self-preservation and protectionism of the middle class.
Those in the middle class who do not have a sense of community and identity beyond careerism and the safeguarding of their insular aspirations of suburban and gentrified living, characterised by braai banter about potholes, broken traffic lights and how expensive their children’s private schooling is, will identify with Zille’s rhetoric. She also represents those who are aspiring to join this group of people.
It is a fact – but hardly breaking news – that the ANC is not doing much to ingratiate itself with people. However, this does not mean that people should reach for anything that presents itself as an alternative.
And in this instance it is the DA itself, which has proven to have no interest in an honest conversation about the country’s political history and context, that renders black people suspicious of it.
Some of us have no interest in “knowing our place” and never challenging an overwhelmingly white party that weaponises the word “woke” against black people who refuse to have their lived experiences erased.
What we do have an interest in is living the full expression of our Constitution, which recognises our racial dynamics and calls on us to live the fullest versions of ourselves. DM
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
