The only way that the DA can build a foothold outside of the Western Cape is through mergers and coalitions with other opposition parties; such is the hurdle of perception they need to overcome. The next milestone is the 2011 local elections, where the DA will hope to carry some other large metropoles.

Immediately after the 2009 elections, as the COPE leadership went through countless leadership squabbles, and were largely in danger of slipping out of the political scene as rapidly as they entered it, the DA was said to be already engaging the party to find common ground.

Today, the results of those discussions seem to closer to fruition. COPE leader Sam Shilowa, battling rumours that the party was to be “swallowed up” by the DA, spoke of “co-operation inside and outside Parliament” but denied mergers at this stage. However, Shilowa’s foot remains firmly jammed in the door; “Mergers are not on the cards at the moment, at least not in the short term, but who knows what tomorrow or the day after may hold?”

COPE has a welcome suitor in the DA, and it would seem to provide both with a more stable platform for national challenges. Only an outright optimist would assert that it’s enough to challenge for national control yet, but with the electoral cracks within the ANC, some prudent coalitions in other provinces, and some incredibly proficient political marketing, the DA’s 2014 plans may not be as far-fetched as they may seem.

Buckley’s brand of conservatism stood for capitalism and individualistic freedom, to the point where he sometimes took some bizarre positions which often flew in the face of the Republican party. (In the late 70′s he called for the abandonment of anti-drugs laws, calling them “capricious and unenforceable” a position very far from that of the GOP.) He stood for a Conservatism that was inherent to a movement, not necessarily a political party, and his support of the strength of action over timidness are hallmarks of the modern GOP’s foreign policy.

However, as the WSJ point out, his tenure as father of the movement, also has distinct lessons for a movement so out of touch with the modern America of Obama, lessons the Conservatives will have to heed as they try to re-imagine themselves to find some greater relevance.

For those, have a read of the piece here.

The DA has promised its TV ad soon, and I’ll put that up as soon as I have it. Let me know your thoughts…

Very similar allegations and legal action was taken in Southern US states during the recent US Presidential elections, where the Democrats accused the Republicans of using identical such methods. In South Africa though, if these were borne out as being legitimate allegations, this would reflect an ANC increasingly desperate to retain votes in an intensely bitter election campaign.

The ANC however, has much experience in dealing politically with the DA. The more interesting developments to watch will be the ANC campaign strategy against COPE. Up until present, the ANC’s approach has been a mixture of animal metaphors, personal slurs and their denigration as an “angry washed-up elite”. The elevation of COPE presidential candidate, Mvume Dandala, may well give them some more ammunition, given his relative obscurity in South African politics. I would imagine that Dandala will have a tough time fighting his corner in the coming two months.

The electorate of South Africa has the opportunity to be heard, either to support the current path of the country, or to change it. None of this can happen without your vote, and as a nation, we need to attach much greater significance to our individual ballot. Huge tracts of our population suffered greatly to allow you to cast your vote in a free society, and that demands greater respect. As Plato said, the price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. So, if you’re concerned about the current leadership of the country, then step out of your apathy. If you’re happy with it, your franchise is equally as important.

So get involved. But, more importantly, get armed with knowledge to make an educated vote. Take an interest in political parties, which could potentially be your new guardians. Read the major parties’ 2009 election manifestos here:

The ANC 2009 Manifesto
The COPE 2009 Manifesto
The DA 2009 Manifesto
The IFP 2009 Manifesto

Let no-one complain about the state of the nation, if he or she has not cast his or her vote to have a say in the future. I share less of the worries of many of my peers around the incumbent ANC governance, but I carry much greater concern for the apathetic attitude that is encroaching our electorate.

“The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush,” said Robert M. Hutchins, “it will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.”

Ours is the New Way. We acknowledge that the past has shaped the character of our nation today and we draw inspiration from the proud history of the liberation struggle. We are, however, not be held hostage to the past. The many sacrifices of the past inspire us to selfishly guard the democratic space so that all voices can be heard and that together, as a nation, we can achieve our common goal of building a non-racial, prosperous and democratic country. COPE aims to build a patriotic nation, united in its common goal to achieve democracy and prosperity. We aim to progress beyond past divisions and to give concrete meaning to the ideals enshrined in our Constitution so that a covenant arises between the people and their government.

COPE’s agenda is a progressive programme with a clear ideological, political and social policy programme.

What is COPE’s Progressive Ideology?

COPE’s subscribes to a modern ideological framework of progressivism.
What is Progressivism? Progressivism can be contrasted with conservatism and classical liberalism. It commits to a number of values and principles: human rights, social justice, sustainability, democracy, human development, rule of law at home and abroad, equality, solidarity, partnership, and international rule.
Progressives vehemently reject oppression and violations of human rights and threats to democracy.
Progressives do not support and defend narrow nationalism, but promote solidarity amongst groups, races; nations and states.
Principles and values are complemented through well-thought out policies. Progressives place huge emphasis on non-state actor participation. It is not just state and market, but state, market and civil society. In fact, progressives are committed to engagement.
Progressives believe in strong national, regional, continental, and international institutions.

For a party of such democratic significance in South Africa, these documents are well worth a read.

My biggest gripe with the DA has been their focus – most acutely under Tony Leon – of sniping at the heels of the ANC at every turn, whilst at the same time offering a bare cupboard of alternative policy proposals. Since COPE has entered the arena, the DA has relaunched the party image, refocused their slogans and proposals, and is finally communicating policy directly to the electorate.

The latest has been their healthcare policies, which they released today:

International experience showed the most effective health care delivery model to be a partnership between the state and private sector, DA spokesperson Mike Waters told a media briefing to launch the party’s health policy document.

Under a DA government, a first priority would be to open up a tender process for managing those hospitals not delivering according to required standards.

This tender process would be open to any group of individuals in the public or the private sector able to meet the requirements, including a proven track record in hospital management.

Anyone awarded a tender to manage a public hospital would be funded by the state on a per-patient basis for providing health care, and rigorous performance criteria would be applied to ensure quality.

This would go hand in hand with a more decentralised model of health care administration, which would give hospital managers the powers they currently lacked to manage their hospitals effectively, he said.

Two key responsibilities for the state in terms of the DA’s plans would be ensuring the availability of medicines and a supply of enough doctors and nurses to meet demands.

The DA proposed that the state involve pharmacies in a more grass-roots system for distributing medicines, so that patients at state hospitals were able to collect their medicines directly from their local pharmacy rather than waiting days or hours in a queue at a state hospital.

Waters said the critical shortage of medical professionals should be confronted head-on with a dynamic campaign to both increase the number of doctors and nurses available to the health system and make conditions attractive enough to ensure they stayed.

Among other things, the DA proposed a system whereby doctors in the private sector conducted a certain number of hours of pro bono work in the public sector every year, as some lawyers were currently required to do.

“We also propose a SADC [Southern African Development Community] health workers’ protocol, to allow for the ethical recruitment of health staff from neighbouring countries, an international recruitment drive, and the classification of health worker skills as scarce skills to increase the number of foreign-qualified doctors and nurses we are able to employ.”

And the folks at Morgan Stanley? They’re planning to pay themselves $10.7 billion this year, much of it in bonuses — almost exactly the amount they are receiving in the first phase of the bailout. “You can imagine the devilish grins on the faces of Morgan Stanley employees,” writes Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Weil. “Not only did we, the taxpayers, save their company…we funded their 2008 bonus pool.”

It didn’t have to be this way. Five days before Paulson struck his deal with the banks, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown negotiated a similar bailout — only he extracted meaningful guarantees for taxpayers: voting rights at the banks, seats on their boards, 12 percent in annual dividend payments to the government, a suspension of dividend payments to shareholders, restrictions on executive bonuses, and a legal requirement that the banks lend money to homeowners and small businesses.

In sharp contrast, this is what U.S. taxpayers received: no controlling interest, no voting rights, no seats on the bank boards and just five percent in dividend payouts to the government, while shareholders continue to collect billions in dividends every quarter. What’s more, golden parachutes and bonuses already promised by the banks will still be paid out to executives — all before taxpayers are paid back.

No wonder it took just one hour for Paulson to convince all nine CEOs to accept his offer — less than seven minutes per bank. Not even the firms’ own lawyers could have drafted a sweeter deal.

Read the entire piece here.

The DA has failed in the past decade to be a true opposition, merely falling into the all-to-easily dismissible trap of biting at the ANC’s heels and reacting to ANC decisions rather than setting a true alternative for policy development. The ANC has communicated policy so poorly to the South African electorate, but the DA chose not to take advantage of this, rather diving into petty squabbles and rhetorical debates at any opportunity.

This weekend, according to Helen Zille, the party will ‘relaunch’ itself, after “an internal process of self-examination… an assessment of how the DA presented itself and how it was perceived by voters, given the effects of a divided past”:

The DA had long been aware that wooing black voters was the only way to increase its share of the vote, but had struggled to get its message heard.

“The DA has significant potential among voters who share our values but who have not historically supported us,” Zille said.

New research commissioned by the party showed voters of all races were looking for a political re-alignment, where parties and people sharing the same values came together to forge an open society with equal opportunities, “as opposed to a closed, patronage-driven society under the ANC”.

“We are determined to do whatever possible to overcome these barriers, transcend race and enable all South Africans who share our values to give us their support,” Zille said.

The party will fight elections next year with an important trump card: its track record in governing Cape Town since the 2006 local government elections saw the ANC forced to make way for a DA-led multi-party coalition.

The DA aims to rule the country by 2014, which may be a decade or two too soon for the electorate, but I applaud their review nonetheless. Not to see what this re-imagined DA looks like…

Read here…