If your only ability in life is to play intra-party politics to get ahead, then of course you’re going to do what it takes to have a seat at the table.
I’m not a great fan of hypocrisy. Perhaps that goes back to the time when I discovered that someone I knew in the army — a “Bible puncher” my father would have called him, because he was always trying to save us, the heathens, around him — got his girlfriend pregnant and his equally Christian (but rich) parents flew her overseas to have an abortion.
And, afterwards, no big surprise that he dumped her because, apparently, for some people, sticking to the second commandment — do unto others as you would have done unto you — is entirely optional.
Politics is a profession
It will similarly come as no surprise to anyone that, after 40 years in journalism, I have found the biggest hypocrites — making Christian zealots look like amateurs — are politicians.
All the high-flown speeches about caring for you, the voter, bringing about meaningful change in the country, standing up for what is right… are just so much hot air.
So, it was refreshing to hear DA insider-turned political commentator and pollster Gareth van Onselen come out with the unvarnished truth last week — that politics is a profession. Not a calling. Not a vocation. Not even a message From Above. It’s just another job.
The first time I heard about this from DA circles was from a fellow journalist who, some years ago, had been looking into decidedly dodgy dealings in a municipality where the DA was strong.
He had asked a DA councillor to go on the record to confirm the behind-the-scenes rumours.
No, was the answer, I’ve got my career to think about. In other words, I am more concerned about the continuity of my pay cheque than I am about revealing questionable behaviour.
It was particularly impactful for me because I had believed that, for all its many flaws, the DA was somehow different from the others at the political trough… like the ANC.
Indeed, the DA would have no rhetoric if it did not have the mainstay of ANC cadre greed.
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Steenhuisen’s massive credit card debt
Then comes the news that the leader of the DA, John Steenhuisen, had his party credit card withdrawn because he could not properly account for all expenditure on it.
On top of that, Steenhuisen had a default judgment granted against him earlier this year for unpaid credit debt of R150 000.
His angry response was that his private financial affairs were nobody’s business. But once you become a public official, especially if you’re in debt to that extent, you may become vulnerable to bribery, and then how you handle your money is definitely our (read: actual or potential DA voters) business.
ALSO READ: Is Steenhuisen a real Johnny-come-lately?
Isolated misconduct shouldn’t condemn the entire office
If your only ability in life is to play intra-party politics to get ahead, then of course you’re going to do what it takes to have a seat at the table (whether that is a municipal, provincial or national Cabinet table is irrelevant).
That is not to say there are not committed, hard-working DA representatives in many towns and cities across the country.
The sort of people who are out late at night, checking on power and water outages and reporting back to their constituents through WhatsApp groups.
To those people, what they do is not about politics; it is about helping people. They are on a mission to make life a little better for people in their communities.
The DA needs to ensure that those people rise up through the ranks and take their service philosophy with them.
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