DA is guilty of political hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is defined as a situation in which someone – or some political party, for instance – pretends to believe something that they do not really believe, or that is the opposite of what they do or say.

The Democratic Alliance (DA), the self-proclaimed defender of our democracy, is guilty of political hypocrisy … and that is not a good look for a party hoping to unsettle the parliamentary landscape, come 2024.

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At the elections for the new speaker of Tshwane this week, the DA assigned all its councillors specific numbers, which they had to mark on their ballot papers. This would enable the party to instantly identify, when the ballots were revealed later, if any of its councillors had betrayed it.

This, if the DA didn’t notice – or did and put political expediency above principle – would negate the stipulated secret ballot.

The irony – or hypocrisy – is that the DA fought tooth and nail in a number of parliamentary no-confidence votes to have the process held by secret ballot. The party claimed this was to allow the freedom for ANC MPs to vote with their consciences without fear of reprisal.

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No such freedom is, apparently, allowed to DA municipal councillors.

The difference is that MPs are elected by party list – and therefore sent to the National Assembly by their party – whereas municipal councillors, like those of the DA, are elected by the residents of their wards. So the micromanaging of the DA representatives in Tshwane was a betrayal of grassroots democracy.

The DA votes were declared spoiled and their nominee for speaker was not elected – and that fiasco indicates a worrying lack of faith by the party hierarchy in its lower-rank members.

South Africa does not need this sort of organisational chaos in its main opposition party.

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