South Africa's potential kingmakers struggle with white image

Reuters ^ | Joe Bavier and Wendell Roelf | June 2, 2024

[MinorityRepublican]

Looking out of his window at Cape Town's False Bay, Nick Searra acknowledges that things do work better in South Africa's second biggest city, a stronghold of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA).

But that doesn't mean he is ready to see the party or its 48-year-old leader John Steenhuisen running the rest of the country. "Imagine an old white man as the president of South Africa," said Searra, a 44-year-old white Johannesburg native who moved to Cape Town in 2022.

In a seismic shift, voters this week dismantled the majority which the African National Congress (ANC) has held since the end of white minority rule in 1994, leaving the party of the late Nelson Mandela little choice but to seek a coalition with a major rival.

Despite their own lacklustre performance, an improvement of one percentage point from the last vote in 2019, the DA and Steenhuisen suddenly find themselves in an unprecedented position.

The ANC remains the largest party despite the damage done by an upstart rival led by former President Jacob Zuma, and is therefore expected to retain the presidency. But as the second biggest political force with 21.8% of votes, the DA is one of three parties with the clout to help it form a new majority and potentially shape the future of the nation. "We've said for the last 30 years that the way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC majority. We've done that," Steenhuisen said as the outcome of Wednesday's vote became clear.

Yet in a country with a painful history of codified racism - apartheid - where white South Africans make up 7% of the population, the DA is struggling to shake off an image as a party of rich whites and prove it reflects the make-up and aspirations of all.

[wastedyears]

It’s okay to be White.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Image? White image? How about get your white ass outta there! The faster the better.

[inchworm]

Why not a white guy? In USA blacks make up 15% but there’s black senators, congressman, and there was even Obama.

[Rummyfan]

In a seismic shift, voters this week dismantled the majority which the African National Congress (ANC) has held since the end of white minority rule in 1994, leaving the party of the late Nelson Mandela little choice but to seek a coalition with a major rival.

Given that the ANC has run the country into the ground, one of the richest countries in Africa, it's time for a change. Long overdue in fact.

[Jim Noble]

“Imagine an old white man as the president of South Africa,” said Searra“

It’s OK to be white.

[Jim Noble]

Beat me to it.

[MtnClimber]

It is OK to be white and to have an IQ over 70.

[MtnClimber]

Why not a white guy? In USA blacks make up 15% but there’s black senators, congressman, and there was even Obama.

Because marxism, the religion of the malcontents.

[Phoenix8]

If you wanted to make the USA a decidedly better country. Take all the freedom protestors of Hong Kong (7 million) and all the Boers of S Africa and Namibia (3 million) and make a 1 to 1 trade with our BLM and ANTIFA.

I guarantee you we would see a second (3d?) American renaissance.

[BeauBo]

The ANC lost its majority not because voters moved toward Conservative policies, but because the ANC coalition splintered.

Hyper-corrupt former ANC Chief Jacob Zuma took about 15% of the vote, and the Hyper-radical EFF took about 10%, out of the ANC’s base vote. Leftist Parties with strong Black racial affiliation still took about 2/3rds of the vote.

The current ANC leader (Cyril Ramaphosa, a self-made wealthy businessman) is seen as more of a technocrat than most of the former ANC leaders, so maybe he might seek a coalition with Conservatives to enact pagmatic economic policies, but politically, it seems more likely that he would prefer to re-consolidate his majority base, by buying off Zuma’s faction, back into the ANC fold.

[Zhang Fei]

[The ANC lost its majority not because voters moved toward Conservative policies, but because the ANC coalition splintered.

Hyper-corrupt former ANC Chief Jacob Zuma took about 15% of the vote, and the Hyper-radical EFF took about 10%, out of the ANC’s base vote. Leftist Parties with strong Black racial affiliation still took about 2/3rds of the vote.The current ANC leader (Cyril Ramaphosa, a self-made wealthy businessman) is seen as more of a technocrat than most of the former ANC leaders, so maybe he might seek a coalition with Conservatives to enact pagmatic economic policies, but politically, it seems more likely that he would prefer to re-consolidate his majority base, by buying off Zuma’s faction, back into the ANC fold.]

---

Indeed. The DA’s problem is that its white voter base has mostly read the writing on the wall and have either left or are making preparations to do so. People I know who hung around for decades after de Klerk’s betrayal, who thought it was a good thing, finally left for good. Black fecundity is further marginalizing the white vote.

---

[The level of fertility of the black African (2.82) and coloured (2,57) population groups remains higher than that of the white and Indian/Asian population groups who reproduce below replacement with TFR of 1,70 and 1,85 respectively.]

[Zhang Fei]

[The ANC lost its majority not because voters moved toward Conservative policies, but because the ANC coalition splintered.

Hyper-corrupt former ANC Chief Jacob Zuma took about 15% of the vote, and the Hyper-radical EFF took about 10%, out of the ANC’s base vote. Leftist Parties with strong Black racial affiliation still took about 2/3rds of the vote.

The current ANC leader (Cyril Ramaphosa, a self-made wealthy businessman) is seen as more of a technocrat than most of the former ANC leaders, so maybe he might seek a coalition with Conservatives to enact pagmatic economic policies, but politically, it seems more likely that he would prefer to re-consolidate his majority base, by buying off Zuma’s faction, back into the ANC fold.]

---

Those who have foresight will sell their property now, before the coming expropriations, while these assets haven’t been cratered by economic collapse. But not everyone’s far-sighted, and many are hooked on cheap black domestic help.

[jeffersondem]

I can foresee the time when successful farmers now in South Africa will have to flee to Russia.

Not many countries will be willing to take successful farmers from South Africa because of - well, politics. Russia could benefit from the immigration. For the farmers it will be tough but at least they will be safer and probably valued.

[BeauBo]

There has been “White flight” out of South Africa for many years, encouraged by high crime and threatening rhetoric from radicals like the EFF (whose signature slogan is “Kill the Boers”), but it is a challenge for many to get immigration visas to nice countries.

I think many more would leave if they could.

[BeauBo]

“I can foresee the time when successful farmers now in South Africa will have to flee to Russia.”

Russia has taken in Boers from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and South Africa in the past, and they have significantly contributed to the turnaround in Russian agricultural production - from a grain importer during the Soviet era, to a large grain exporter today.

Boers (literally translated from Afrikaans as “Farmers”) are World class productive farmers, and have been particularly successful immigrant groups for several countries to which they have emigrated.

[Organic Panic]

So white nations MUsT be run by racist brown people but African nations must not be run by whites because that’s rayciss...

Then why is it so many from African s holes risk life and limb to illegally move to white nations?

[Zhang Fei]

[There has been “White flight” out of South Africa for many years, encouraged by high crime and threatening rhetoric from radicals like the EFF (whose signature slogan is “Kill the Boers”), but it is a challenge for many to get immigration visas to nice countries.

I think many more would leave if they could.]

---

Pace the concerns about crime directed specifically against whites, I see little evidence that either black criminals or the government are engaged in a nationwide anti-white pogrom. Crime in apartheid South Africa was high for demographic reasons. It has skyrocketed for all races in post-apartheid RSA for the same reason as the power cuts and water outages - black rule, not racial oppression.

For many, the lack of pogroms so far has led to a choosiness about foreign destinations. That will change, when the pogroms begin. At that point, all will flee, if necessary, with only the clothes on their backs. The people I know who left after decades of post-apartheid RSA always had plum destinations as options. That they tarried so long was an indication of real ideological commitment and personal attachment. Eventually, buyer’s regret won out.