After the DA's implosion, the revisionism begins

There's been much commentary after the DA's recent implosion. RW Johnson, Jon Cayzer, Richard Poplak and one or two others gave good, fair assessments. DA apologists and supporters like James Myburgh acknowledge the party is in trouble but for different reasons. 

However, the DA downplay concerns like DA MP Emma Powell did last week (see here). She attributed Zille's sudden, unexpected entrance into the race and election as FedEx chair, which caused Mashaba's departure and was the final nail for Trollip and Maimane and resulting furore, as observers not understanding its internal politics, ie it's so simple and we're overreacting.

So within the party and among its supporters there's tortuous rationalisations, excuses and even blunt denials to explain away the worst crisis and crisis of confidence the party has had since 1994. The latest to offer a revisionism and apologia is James Myburgh, publisher and editor of Politicsweb (see here). He's a council member of the IRR and publishes many of their members' articles. John Kane-Berman is a columnist. Until her resignation to run for FedEx chair, Helen Zille was briefly an IRR fellow.

As quoted by Jan-Jan Joubert, "according to [Zille], there are only two worthwhile political analysts in South African media – Rapport editor Waldimar Pelser and PoliticsWeb editor James Myburgh". Zille now writes for Rapport.  Naturally, she no longers include Daily Maverick, for whom she wrote before the parting of ways, among the worthwhile political analysts.  Zille's virtuous circle of mutual admirers is complete (until the next falling out, that is). (Now on DM Zille is fair game when previously she was one of their untouchable "opinionistas".)

(Disclosure: Myburgh published my articles until last year when he suddenly stopped. He never gave reasons. I suspected it was because of my criticism of Zille and DA which was not popular among his readers. This coincided with him adopting a new subscriber funding model and PW's right-shift. The last communication from him was to reject an article about the NPA in which I criticised their failure to prosecute Western Cape Health Department employees and implicated Zille in political interference of a police and NPA investigation.)

Notwithstanding Myburgh's esoteric reference to 1930s Jewry, I agree the problem of our time is not race, but economics and socio-economic inequality, SA's intractable inequality being at the end of the causal chain of a slow and moribund economy while the ANC dithers and refuses to understand economics.

But I'm having trouble understanding his reasoning that the conflict in the DA was only between the DA's erstwhile core liberal values and 'transformationists' like Maimane and other black leaders. He expediently forgets - and this makes his analysis dishonest, biased and suspect - Zille, whom he praises (he reminds us of her struggle credentials) started the DA on this path as leader. But during her leadership the DA was already beginning to lose its liberal way (see RW Johnson). 

Cayzer, who also obsequiously praised her (his praise - 'most prestigious SA leader w/ Mandela' [sic]) - was inconsistent with her blunders but that's the kind of fanboy/girl adulation she attracts) was clear about her significant role in what happened in the party. He said she got away with mistakes a black DA leader couldn't. Myburgh doesn't mention Zille's shift to the right over the past few years and esp recently which any observant person would and should have noticed - I did.

But still Myburgh, with the blindspot common to her fans that always preemptively exonerates her for anything and everything, berates black 'transformationists' (what then is Athol Trollip?). These must have a secret agenda that includes scuppering the DA project, and as reward, welcomed back into the extremist racist Mngxitama-type fold.

I thought Maimane was a weak and ineffectual leader. I have no opinion about Mashaba. But they don't strike me as Mngxitama's type of person or politician. By making this connection, and that Maimane et al are puppets, Myburgh is deliberately (egregiously, at length quoting derogatory names) unfair, provocative and defamatory. Ironically he uses the imagery and language of extremists like Mngxitama that he denounces except he couches it in educated words. But the effect is the same when delivered to a receptive audience - PW's - who're on the opposite side to Mngxitama's and eager to believe the worst.

Myburgh is associated with and expressing a version of the IRR's view. Some, including Cayzer, say the IRR either engineered Zille's accession to FedEx chair and/or played a significant advisory role to her before and now (Frans Cronje denied it, though). 

Whatever the case, if this is the kind of reactionary advice and support Zille and DA are receiving as they plot the future, they will further estrange themselves from liberal voters and South Africans of all races. As such, their future shall be confined to the margins.

Expanded from comments made to Myburgh's article.