The Democratic Alliance (DA) has increased its parliamentary representation from seven in 1994 to 67 in this year’s election. That’s a rise of almost 1 000%, a spectacular performance by any standards. Of course, like the African National Congress (ANC), the former Democratic Party swallowed a few erstwhile National Party members (and others) along the way.

Especially interesting about the rise in support for the DA — from 1.7% of the total vote in 1994 to 16.7% this year — is that it occurred despite the hostility of much of the media to the party. The stances taken and the style adopted by the former leader, Mr Tony Leon, and the current leader, Ms Helen Zille, were often harshly criticised. It’s almost as if their success was built on listening to what the media advised and then doing the opposite. In particular, Mr Leon was accused of being too confrontational.

But the rise of the DA and the decline of other opposition parties shows that nearly a fifth of the electorate are comfortable with a robust opposition. Ms Zille’s ‘stop Zuma’ slogan before the recent poll suggests that she too will not shy away from being tough, no matter what members of the commentariat in the Fourth Estate think. Ms Zille has recently been in hot water with the Fourth Estate all over again, partly for not adhering to demographic proportionality and gender ‘representivity’ in the appointment of her executive council in the Western Cape.

She is likely to be proved right once again, however. Government at all levels in South Africa is in such a mess that the country cannot afford to make executive appointments except on merit. Even with the sabotage she will face from the ANC, she is likely to run a better administration than provinces or departments whose political and other executives are chosen for quota, factional, or deployment purposes.

Ms Zille is to be particularly commended for applying the liberal principle of individual merit at a time when so few people are willing to question political correctness in the form of racial and gender quotas. Her example, it is to be hoped, will inspire others also to ignore the requirements of political correctness. That the ruling party applies the new ideology of racial and gender ‘representivity’ is bad enough. That so much of business and the media has so uncritically bought into it is alarming.

— John Kane-Berman