Under starter's orders.....

This weekend two of the main opposition parties launched their manifestos to the party faithful and the media - the EFF in Tembisa on Saturday and the DA in Polokwane on Sunday. Both conducted themselves according to the rules of election campaigning, which in the case of the DA is not surprising. In the case of the EFF perhaps it is. We should be relieved.

At 6:30 on Sunday morning 10 of us met up at Dunkeld West shopping centre and armed with cappuccinos and Americanos bought from the hottest new coffee shop in this neighbourhood, hopped into the rented minibus and headed for Polokwane. Arranged at the last minute by Gordon Mackay, a local councillor now heading for Parliament after the election, it was a nice mix of youth and experience, let by our MP Ian Ollis with newbies Moira and Mary enthusiastically joining in. 

These two early twenty-something recruits to the party are an interesting story in themselves. Growing up as near neighbours in the Joburg suburb of Melrose, their mothers were (still are) domestic workers who with the help of enlightened sponsors put their daughters through school and university and set them on course towards a new life they themselves could only have dreamed of. Moira is now with a brokerage firm in Joburg while Mary is working towards completing her BSc in mechanical engineering at Wits. Now they are DA activists committed to the cause and learning the language that will help them bring more of their friends over to the party.

Talking of language, also on the bus was Ruth Spector Jacobs, a former UDF and ANC activist married to Brooks Spector, a US citizen and former diplomat. Ruth, another recent party convert, has a thing about language - rightly so - and cringes when people use the term domestic servant or maid. "Housekeeper!" she insists, saying that if we whiteys want to connect with our black brothers and sisters and have a hope of converting them to the DA we have to stop using demeaning language and instead find words and phrases that convey respect. Interestingly, Moira and Mary did not weigh into this discussion perhaps because they were too busy lapping up Ian's gripping accounts of the state of the nation debate in which he played a leading part for the DA.

A pitstop and a few sandwiches, snacks and drinks later we rolled into the Polokwane showgrounds just south of the city and disembarked, then walked around the dusty site to find some seats. The stadium was around half full but filling fast, and at 12 sharp Mmusi Maimane entered from stage right and took over from the musicians (who included Freshly Ground in a strangely muted 15 minute set) and hyped up MCs. The crowd gave him a rousing welcome, though in true DA style it did not erupt into the wild gyrations and toyi-toying found at ANC rallies. More reserved, there were still lots of Amandla, Awethus and other chants borrowed from the struggle era that the DA has adopted. 

Some people find this odd and ask why the party can't invent its own idiom that has credibility and its roots in the struggle. It is perhaps why some commentators call the DA ANC lite. The fact is, virtually all in the crowd of perhaps 15 000 do have recollections of the struggle against apartheid and for them the DA is a new experience, something that was, in the past, quite alien - a party trying to rid itself of its formerly white identity. Using comforting and familiar language and chants makes them feel at home. Besides, the ANC, contrary to its propaganda, was not the only liberating or struggle party. The language belongs to the struggle, not the party. Hence we, the DA, can use it with authenticity. 

As I was trying to shelter myself from the broiling sun I got a tap on my shoulder and who should it be but Ntsiki from Soweto Homemakers (a subject for another post soon). She had come with a group of friends and DA supporters and incredibly found herself sitting one row behind me. It was very interesting to hear them cheering and responding the Mmusi's rhetoric - he was obviously hitting the right buttons. Here are three women in their fifties and sixties from a very deprived part of Soweto listening to a young black man calling on them to eject Msholozi from power, and put in his place a party who listens to them and works for them not the ANC big wigs' narrow self interests. It was inspiring stuff.

The speaker lineup was well orchestrated - Wilmot James, Makashule Gana, Mbali Ntuli, Lindiwe Mazibuko and climaxing with another tub-thumping speech by Mmusi then the biggest crowd puller of all, Helen Zille. Helen worked the crowd and pumped the air as she entered the stadium, dressed in a shining white jacket and blue trousers, and as she hit the stage it erupted in an explosion of blue confetti. 

The theme for the day was Together for Change, Together for Jobs and every speaker tried to drum this into our heads. Helen was no different. The thrust of her speech was that at Polokwane in 2007, when the ANC elected Jacob Zuma its president, it initiated a downward spiral for the party and the country, with corruption and cronyism now the norm. Just about every corruption scandal can be traced to Zuma, she said, and the country is suffering. Give us a chance to put it right, was her message (I liked this bit!).

A few hundred kilometres away Julius Malema led his supporters in the direction of cloud cuckoo land with a manifesto that is wildly popular but destined to plunge the country into penury faster than you can say Robert Mugabe. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have electrified the contest for Parliament, dramatised further by Julius' impending sequestration in May which would bar him from taking up his seat. I'm not going to labour the reasons why the EFF's policies are economic madness (though politically very astute) but rather express my relief that it has chosen to play the political game by the rules, instead of taking the anarchist route of rebellion and revolt which they could so easily have done. Let them have their 30 seats in Parliament - far better than fomenting riots and indulging in dangerous unconstitutional means to try to get their way.

We cannot be complacent, though. The EFF has become a lightning rod for the disaffected, the frustrated, the marginalised, the angry - and, importantly, those motivated enough to make a noise and do something rather than just throw their hands up in despair. The DA needs to think up a way of connecting to these people because its policies are a much surer solution to their needs than the EFF's ill-conceived blandishments.

So the starter gun has gone off and the main players are in the race. Poor old Ramphele Mamphela and Agang - her own event at Constitution Hill was barely noticed. Then yesterday Mbhazima Shilowa announced he was advising 800 delegates who recently attended a meeting of his faction of COPE to canvass for the UDM. What other surprises are around the corner?