The long death of South Africa’s political centre

 Cape Town

Last Sunday, when South Africa beat Wales to go through to the rugby World Cup final against England, was the last day of a black week in South African politics. The valiant Democratic Alliance, the official opposition, the proud liberal party that fought both apartheid and the abuses of the ANC, fell into strife and ignominy. Its leader Mmusi Maimane resigned and there was furious infighting about its governance and policies. Enemies of liberalism gloated. The election of the dominating figure of Helen Zille as the party’s chair was at the centre of the storm. Africa can prosper only if it follows liberal policies: clean and limited government, the rule of the law, free enterprise, equal opportunities, no discrimination based on race or anything else. This is what the DA used to believe in. But among Africa’s elite there is a big problem, which makes liberalism difficult. It lies deep in the African psyche and helps to explain why post-colonial Africa has been a failure compared with post-colonial Asia (compare Kenya with South Korea). This problem is hard to describe, but it expresses itself among African leaders in the simultaneous hostility to and adoration of all things white and European. When an African leader (Robert Mugabe was a classic example) condemns European imperialism, everyone knows he drives a European car, dresses in European clothes, and sends his children to European or European-style schools — and probably despises most things African. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa sent his sons to the highly prestigious (and expensive) St Stithians college in Johannesburg and his daughters to Roedean. This is typical. Enormous harm has been done in South Africa by this hypocrisy. Take the ANC’s racial policies of ‘transformation’ — which means getting rid of the whites.