The Document behind claims of an ANC–DA convergence

Since our article on the statement by Dion George, many have asked for evidence that the ANC and DA are converging into one party. In response, I located Helen Zille’s 2012 Chatham House interview where she said, “our job is to bring together all the people who support the National Development Plan into the same political party.”

This interview contains a short message by Zille, followed by a series of questions delivered to Zille. HERE is the document and below I walk through the first question from the interview. The answer she gives to this question shows the plan to create one so-called centrist party in South Africa.

Question one from Zille’s Chatham House interview

The aftermath of Marikana has left more questions than answers about South Africa and in your words its ‘catalytic moment’. You called for a realignment of South African politics to challenge the ANC. Now certainly from investor’s point of view, investors seek certainty, they want to mitigate risks. What impact do you see the events of Marikana having on South African politics certainly ahead of presidential elections?

Before I talk about her answer to this question, it’s important to remember that this interview took place in 2012, shortly after the Marikana massacre of 16 August 2012, when police shot and killed 34 striking mineworkers at the Lonmin platinum mine in South Africa’s North West Province.

At the time, Marikana was widely discussed internationally. South Africa was still generally regarded as a success story, and the violence raised serious concerns, especially for those who enjoyed the ability to extract wealth from the land and cheap migrant labour of the economic block we call “South Africa.”

Taking Marikana into account and the financial interests in South Africa, Zille had to reassure those present that South Africa remained on a stable trajectory. Her response to the Marikana question is revealing.

Zille’s answer

She says that the Marikana massacre was not an isolated incident, but rather a symptom of deeper structural tensions within South Africa’s governing alliance of the ANC, COSATU, and the SACP.

She points to COSATU’s dominance, reinforced by labour laws that favour large unions and marginalise smaller rivals, as well as the federation’s financial investments in major employers.

Together, these factors had produced an insider–outsider system that alienated workers such as platinum mine rock drillers, many of whom felt betrayed by the National Union of Mineworkers. Their exclusion from formal bargaining structures led to violent strikes and exposed a loss of legitimacy for both the ANC and its alliance partners at ground level.

Zille presents these developments as evidence of a governing coalition coming apart, signalling an imminent political realignment. Her answer is not the wiser more prudent path of decentralization and partition, but rather the risky task of pulling together certain groups into “the same political party, at the political centre.”

Zille makes her position explicit, stating unambiguously that “our job is to bring together all the people who support the National Development Plan into the same political party, at the political centre.” Her proposed solution is effectively a form of government of national unity, or a consolidation into the “same political party.” A merger in substance if not in name, premised on shared support for the National Development Plan. A plan that will, like always, benefit a certain group.

She continues: “That is what we have to do. And the ANC will come apart in the process of doing that and I am very confident that it will happen in the next 5 to 7 years and we will be able to build a new majority at the centre of South Africa politics. And Marikana is just one symbol of that process.”

Seeing a political realignment on the cards, Zille thought that building one political party in the so-called “centre” would be a good idea.

While she does not explicitly mention the DA and the ANC in this answer, when considering the fact that she represents the DA, that the ANC was still the largest player and her “triangle” speech at the BizNews conference where she does explicitly talk about the ANC and DA, it becomes clear that the plan is to pull in ANC people to facilitate the merger.

This is currently what the DA is doing, but I do not think this will end well. No, not at all! What will most likely happen is that the DA will be hollowed out, just like the rest of South Africa’s institutions from the Hawks to Eskom. It will be a pretty shell that will blow over in the wind, unlikely to return.