Roots Republic

Helen Zille: Champion or charlatan?
By : Tracy Hammond

Zille has been a force in South African politics since the 1970s when, as a political correspondent for the Rand Daily Mail, she authored an expose on the death of Steve Biko. Her membership to societies such as the Open Society Foundation, Independent Media Diversity Trust and Black Sash ‘End Conscription’ campaign clearly illustrate her commitment to a successful and free democracy in South Africa. This commitment culminated with her election as Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town in 2006 and leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in 2007.

Many South Africans have been searching for a party that truly represents them. In this time of legislation building and democracy shaping, is Zille the light at the end of this tunnel? The answer, it seems, is yes and no, and that’s not just dependent on whom you ask, but rather which role you are evaluating: Mayor Zille or DA leader Zille.

Mayor Zille was recently voted the world’s best mayor, and while the selection procedure has been deemed non-representative or inclusive by some (this writer included), the fact that she is the first African mayor ever to receive this award cannot be ignored.

Her first act as Mayor was to reduce her support staff from 27 to 12, saving the Council R6000 000 a year. She pioneered the first phase of the Bus Rapid Transport system for Cape Town, made measurable improvements in the rate of delivery of housing, focused and enhanced anti-drug campaigns, increased resources available for drug rehabilitation and implemented a dedicated Environmental Resource management Department which formulates and implements policies aimed at improving environmental sustainability - a first for South Africa. Over and above this, perhaps her greatest achievement has been the negotiation of the multi-party government that manages Cape Town, another first for South Africa. This system has required constant and skilful maintenance from Zille, in the face of numerous challenges from the ANC, and illustrated that co-operation is not only possible but the most effective means of goal achievement.

As leader of the DA, Zille has been praised for her strong anti-corruption stance, something her predecessor was seen as lacking. Beyond this, unfortunately, few other changes in the style of opposition have been seen since Zille took the reins and the ANC don’t seem to be taking note of what transformations have been made.

The dominance of a single party can be counteractive to a healthy democracy. As such, a strong opposition is required; one that not only creates a system of checks and balances, but contains state power within legislative boundaries and create conditions conducive to accountability at all levels of government. Political theory tells us there are two strategies for opposition parties in any democratic system: opposing robustly or opposing constructively.

Robust opposition is about opposing ‘because the ruling party said so’ – there is little consideration of the issue at hand or where the opposition stands on the particular issue – if the ruling party said it, resistance will be offered. This strategy ensures the opposition party is involved in all issues but can also creates conflicted dynamics between parties and turn the opposition party into Aesop’s fabled boy who cried wolf one too many times, and is ignored when it really counts.

Constructive opposition emphasises representation of a specific group and as such supports or opposes the government accordingly. This strategy seeks out co-operation rather than conflict but cannot be secured by the actions of the opposition party alone, as positive actions from the ruling party are also required.

The DA have, to date, followed an exclusively robust opposition strategy and this has negatively impacted on inter-party dynamics, making current or future attempts at co-operation much more difficult to achieve. Ironic, since Zille’s leadership of the multi-party government in Cape Town has been anything but! .Zille may have plans to change this character of the DA, improving inter-party relations and increasing the opportunities for cross party collaboration, but to date no actions to this end have been taken.

Perhaps Zille has her fingers in too many pies, perhaps it is unfair to judge her impact on the DA and its opposition style in the time that has elapsed since she took office, or perhaps her views are just too different or even liberal for the DA. What is clear is that, as perfectly summarised by Brendan Boyle, “Without the millstone of the DA’s political agenda, Zille would certainly be the best mayor Cape Town has had in decades. She is focussed, committed, fiercely bright and incredibly hard-working”.

Many in Cape Town are seeing the light after too many years of power shortages, load-shedding and other infrastructural short-comings, but it seems the rest of the country is still waiting for that light to shine their way.