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Democratic Alliance (South Africa)
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The Democratic Alliance (DA) is a liberal South African political party, and the official opposition to the ruling African National Congress. It was formed when the Democratic Party entered into a short-lived alliance with the New National Party in 2000.
The present leader of the Democratic Alliance is Cape Town mayor Helen Zille, who took over from Tony Leon in May 2006. Zille, the World Mayor of the Year in 2008, opted against moving to the National Assembly, so the party is instead led in parliament by Celia-Sandra Botha.
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The Democratic Alliance (DA) is a liberal South African political party, and the official opposition to the ruling African National Congress. It was formed when the Democratic Party entered into a short-lived alliance with the New National Party in 2000.
The present leader of the Democratic Alliance is Cape Town mayor Helen Zille, who took over from Tony Leon in May 2006. Zille, the World Mayor of the Year in 2008, opted against moving to the National Assembly, so the party is instead led in parliament by Celia-Sandra Botha. In January 2009, Botha announced her decision to leave party politics; her successor has not yet been chosen. The Democratic Alliance's chairperson is Joe Seremane, and the party's CEO is Ryan Coetzee.
Ideology and principles
The Democratic Alliance has come to be associated with the phrase "Open Opportunity Society for All". Party leader Helen Zille has argued that this stands in direct contrast to the ruling ANC's approach to governance, which she maintains has led to a "closed, patronage society for some".
The Democratic Alliance's historical roots are broadly progressive. Between 1961 and 1974, the party's predecessor, the Progressive Party, was represented in parliament by a single MP, Helen Suzman, whose vocal opposition to racial discrimination and the apartheid regime led to the party being accused frequently of supporting a leftist agenda.
During the 1990s, the party remained associated with progressive values, though party leader Tony Leon's support for the reintroduction of the death penalty, the party's controversial 1999 campaign slogan "Fight Back", and the short-lived alliance with the right-wing New National Party fuelled criticisms of the party from the left. After Helen Zille's victory in the party's 2006 leadership race, and the ANC's nomination of populist candidate Jacob Zuma for the presidency, the DA has attempted to reposition itself as a mainstream alternative to a leftward shifting ANC. The party's economic policy is also broadly centrist, and supports a mix of high spending on crucial social services such as education and health care, and strong regulatory framework, with more moderate policies such as a lower budget deficit and a deregulated labour market.
Current policies
Crime
The Democratic Alliance has aggressively targeted the ruling ANC's performance on tackling crime and corruption. In the party's crime plan, , the DA committed themselves to increasing the number of police officers to 250,000. This is 60,000 more than the government's own target. The party also announced plans to employ 30,000 additional detectives and forensics experts and 500 more prosecutors, in order to reduce court backlogs, and establish a Directorate for Victims of Crime, which would provide funding and support for crime victims.
In addition, the party announced its support for a prison labour programme, which would put prisoners to work in various community upliftment programmes. The proposal was criticised by labour unions, who believed it was unethical and would result in labour job losses.
In late 2008 and early 2009, the DA took a strong stand against the South African Police Service's VIP Protection Unit, after several officers in the unit were charged with serious criminal offences. The party later released documentation of the unit's poor disciplinary record, and claimed its divisional commander had himself dodged serious criminal charges.
The DA also strongly opposed the disbandment of the Scorpions crime investigation unit, and similar efforts to centralise the police service such as the nationwide disbandment of specialised Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units.
Social development
Central to the Democratic Alliance's social development policy, "Breaking the Cycle of Poverty", is a Basic Income Grant, which would provide a monthly transfer of R110 to all adults earning less than R46,000 per year. The party also supports legislation that would require the legal guardians of children living in poverty to ensure that their child attends 85 percent of school classes, and undergoes routine health checkups.
In addition, to aid with youth development skills, the party proposed a R6000 opportunity voucher or twelve month community service programme to all high school matriculants. The party also supports a universal old age pension, and the abolishment of pension means tests.
Education
The DA's education programme, "Preparing for Success", focuses on providing adequate physical and human resources to underperforming schools. Included in this proposal would be guaranteed access to a core minimum of resources for each school, proper state school nutrition schemes for grade 1-12 learners, and the introduction of measures to train 30,000 additional teachers per year. The DA continues to support the introduction of new performance targets for teachers and schools, and also advocates a per-child wage subsidy, and a national network of community-based early childhood education centres.
Health
The DA's "Quality Care for All" programme is focused on tackling the country's high HIV/AIDS infection rate. Included in these plans is an increase in the number of clinics offering HIV testing and measures to provide all HIV-positive women with Nevirapine. The party's health policy also plans to devote more resources to vaccinations against common childhood illnesses.
The party also advocates creating a transparent and competitive health sector, to boost service delivery and encourage health care practitioners to remain in the country.
Economy
The party's current policy programme, "It's All About Jobs", targets the attainment of a 6 percent growth rate, by focusing on on-the-job skills training and cutting the cost of doing business.
Land
The DA's "Land of Opportunity" programme supports the 'willing buyer, willing seller' principle, though it also allows for expropriation for reform purposes in certain limited circumstances. The party has been critical of the resources that government has allocated to land reform, claiming that government has not been sufficiently active in buying up land that comes onto the market. Though the DA believes this could speed up the pace of land reform, their policies have been vocally criticised by members of the Tripartheid Alliance. Land Affairs Minister Thoko Didiza accused the DA of attempting to "stifle" land reform, while the South African Communist Party contended that the DA's policies overly favoured big business.
Environment and energy
In the build up to the 2009 elections, the DA announced it would create a new Ministry of Energy and Climate Change, to ensure improved integrated energy planning in order to deal with South Africa's growing carbon dioxide emissions. The DA's 2009 environment and energy plan, also proposes new measures to increase energy efficiency, and the introduction of sectoral carbon emission targets.
The DA also proposes reforms to the energy sector that would see Eskom's designation as the single buyer of electricity revoked, thereby attracting greater investment and a more efficient energy market.
Electoral reform
The DA broadly supports reforms recommended by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert's electoral reform task-team, that would see the current party list voting system replaced by a 75% constituency-based/25% proportional representation-based electoral system that would apply at national and provincial level. The DA's governance policy also makes allowance for the direct election of the president, which would give voters a more direct link to the executive branch.
The party is also currently lobbying for voting rights for South African citizens living abroad. Party leader Zille raised the issue with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairman, Brigalia Bam. Zille has proposed that franchise be extended to overseas-based South Africans beyond Section 33(1)(e) of the Electoral Act, which currently limits overseas voting to South African citizens abroad temporarily, for purposes of a holiday, a business trip, attending a tertiary institution, or participating in an international sports event. The DA believe voting rights should be extended to include all South African citizens who are living and working abroad, many of whom intend returning.
In January 2008 the IEC indicated that they would not take measures to allow citizens living abroad to vote in the 2009 national and provincial elections. On 23 January 2009, the DA lodged an application at the Cape High Court to have section 33(1)(e) of the Electoral Act, which differentiates between the special voting rights of citizens abroad, declared unconstitutional.
2009 General Elections
The Democratic Alliance launched its 2009 General Election campaign on 31 January, 2009, in Soweto, unveiling a campaign slogan at the launch. It will release its manifesto on 14 February. It is still finalising its candidates for public office and the positions of premiers, mayors and president.
The party is expected to perform strongly in the Western Cape province, with analysts suggesting they will regain control of the province from the ruling ANC. The ANC's support in the province has been on the wane, while both the DA and the Independent Democrats have found new voters.
The Sunday Times published a poll on 28 September 2008, detailing the strong urban support that the party now holds. The survey of 1,500 city dwellers found that 27% would vote for the ruling ANC, while 26% would vote for the DA, and 27% were undecided. The newly formed COPE party gained less than 1%.
The party has projected that it will almost double its vote share from 12% to 21% in the 2009 election, and that it will govern at least the Western Cape province, a task made easier by the ANC-COPE split. There has also been growing speculation over whether or not Zille will run as the DA's candidate for the position of premier of the province next year. The party anticipates that it will take control of several other major cities and towns in the 2011 local elections, and, with what it terms a "realignment of SA politics", it predicts that it take its "winning streak" into the 2014 elections, when it plans to become the ruling party.
Nor has it ruled out the possibility of usurping the ANC as ruling party in the 2009 elections. "This year, the DA can win!" Zille told supporters at its campaign launch at the end of January.
The Democratic Alliance's relationship with newly-formed ANC breakaway party COPE has been relatively strong. COPE leader Mosiuoa Lekota showed a willingness to co-operate with Zille in future, and reports suggest the two parties may work in tandem to win several provinces in 2009. More recently, however, Zille criticised COPE's internal structures and suggested many of the party's new members were merely Mbeki loyalists hoping to resurrect political careers.
History
Although the Democratic Alliance in its present form is fairly new, its roots can be traced far back in South African political history, through a complex sequence of splits and mergers - starting with the creation of a South African Party in 1910. The modern day Democratic Alliance is in large part a product of the progressive anti-Apartheid movement of the 1970s and 1980s, during which time it was known variously as the Progressive Party, the Progressive Reform Party, and the Progressive Federal Party. During that time, the party was led by some of the most celebrated anti-apartheid activists, including Helen Suzman, Harry Schwarz, Colin Eglin, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and Zach de Beer. For most of the 1990s, the party was known as the Democratic Party (DP), during which time it ascended to the status of official opposition under the leadership of Tony Leon.
In 2000, the DP became the Democratic Alliance (DA) after merging with the New National Party. Though the alliance was short-lived - the NNP formed a new alliance with the African National Congress the following year - the DA secured 22% of the vote in the 2000 local government elections and an outright majority in the Cape Town unicity. Peter Marais became mayor of Cape Town, and the DA also took control of 20 local municipalities in the Western Cape. Following the NNP's defections, the party subsequently lost control of both Cape Town and the Western Cape province to the ANC. However, they regained control of Cape Town in the 2006 Local Government Elections - the only Metropolitan Council in South Africa not controlled by the ANC. Helen Zille was elected executive mayor on March 15, 2006 and formed a coalition with six smaller parties as the DA failed to win an outright majority in the council. Zille then succeeded Leon as leader of the party in May, after a landslide leadership victory. Zille's subsequent successes as mayor led to her being awarded the 2008 World Mayor Prize.
As Zille opted to remain as mayor of Cape Town as well as adopt the position of leader of the DA, it was decided that another DA member would be required to represent Zille and the party in the National Assembly. Following a vote which was mainly contested between former NNP MP, Tertius Delport and Sandra Botha, Botha triumphed. Botha served as parliamentary leader until announcing her retirement from party politics in January 2009.
Re-launch
On 15 November 2008, the DA convened a meeting on Constitution Hill to re-launch the party as one which no longer acts as an opposition but offers voters another choice for government. Along with this, the party also introduced a new logo, featuring a rising sun over the colours of the South African flag, and a new slogan, "One Nation, One Future." This is in line with the new strategy the party is implementing with regard to a non-racial South Africa where everyone has equal opportunities. Party leader, Helen Zille said the new DA would be “more reflective of our rich racial, linguistic and cultural heritage”. Zille has emphasised that she wants the party to be a "party for all the people" and not decline into a "shrinking, irrelevant minority".
Democratic Alliance Youth
The Democratic Alliance, under Helen Zille, recently launched its youth wing, known simply as the Democratic Alliance Youth, which came officially into being late in 2008. Its members appointed as their leader Khume Ramulifho, who is naturally expected to have less political thrust than his ANC counterpart, the outspoken and controversial Julius Malema.
Controversies
Delft
In December 2007, a local DA councillor, Frank Martin, allegedly encouraged local families to occupy newly built N2 Gateway houses in Delft in the Western Cape. After over 1,000 backyarders from the area occupied the houses, a high profile political fight between ANC and DA leaders ensued, each accusing the other of racism, playing party politics, and using the poor for their own gain. Judge Van Zyl of the Cape Town High Court ruled to evict residents and also faulted Frank Martin for instigating the occupation. Charges against Martin were later dropped.
After February 2008, political fights broke out between the DA and civil society organisations with over the families evicted from the N2 Gateway. The Delft-Symphony Anti-Eviction Campaign and Islamic Relief Worldwide accused the DA of favouring affected party supporters and baring support from NGOs for non-suportive residents. The DA denies this.
Xenophobic attacks
The DA and its mayor Helen Zille drew criticism for their response to the 2008 xenophobic attacks in Cape Town. In particular, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel accused Zille of "fanning the flames", by speaking out against foreign drug dealers while on a visit to Mitchell's Plain. Zille responded that she had been completely misquoted, and challenged Manuel to read newspaper transcripts of her speech. Zille has also accused the ANC government of creating a dependancy culture lacking of economic development that has fuelled xenophobia.
See also
External links
Affiliates
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