Tuesday, May 08, 2007

South Africa's opposition has new leader.



In South Africa the opposition Democratic Alliance has a new leader, Helen Zille, the mayor of Cape Town. Former leader, Tony Leon, stepped down after 13 years in the position. Leon became a member of parliament after he took over the seat of famed apartheid opponent Helen Susman. Tony was a high profile classical liberal which is one reason the ANC despised him so much. He was someone I liked and who was always kind to me, South Africa is poorer with his retirement.

The BBC report on the has to throw in the usual dig at the DA from Western media, particularly from those on the socialist Left. It writes; “The DA has long been criticised for being too white and middle class.”

In reality, and contrary to the rubbish the BBC just gave out, support for the DA is more racially mixed than for any other party in South Africa including the ANC.

Whites in South Africa make up around 9% of the population yet it got more than 9% of the vote. The reality is that the DA is the most multiracial party in South Africa today. It does have strong support among white voters but so too among Indian and mixed-race voters. And in the last election it did well in numerous all Black election districts. The ANC is more predominantly black than the DA is predominantly white. So why doesn’t the BBC say the ANC is criticized for being too black?

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