Zille heralds new DA age

2007-08-14 21:10

Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance will undertake a major policy review before the 2009 general election, party leader Helen Zille said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the University of Pretoria's Centre for International Political Studies, Zille said the DA and its predecessors' major contribution till now had been to keep the idea of opposition alive over decades, often against overwhelming odds.

In countries where people had given up on the crucial role of building an opposition, democracy soon died, as could again be seen in various states to the north.

"But in the years ahead, while sustaining our focus on opposition, I want the DA to become synonymous with another concept - opportunity.

"I have requested a major policy review before the next election that must focus on this question in all areas of public policy," Zille said.

'A cover for the ANC's real purpose'

"Our policy proposals must focus on how we create a society which offers individuals the necessary tools to attain and use their freedom, and to become the agents of development for themselves, for their families and their society."

In short, the question was how to offer real opportunities to all.

This would require significant interventions to overcome the denial of such opportunities to the majority of the people over centuries.

"So it is another myth that the DA is opposed to dealing with this tragic legacy.

"It will be the core purpose of our policy review to determine the most effective way of achieving this central goal."

This approach would lead to genuine transformation; essential to moving out of the deepening rut of race-group politics, racial head-counting and quotas, which the ANC claimed would address the legacy of apartheid, but which would inevitably lead to embedding race-based politics permanently.

"We also know that this policy is actually a cover for the ANC's real purpose, which is to reinforce and centralise control of all key levers of power, in the hands of a small group of politically connected cadres - the vanguard of the struggle, to use the common Leninist term.

"The ANC's greatest strategic skill has been to disguise this strategy as an attempt to promote equity. It is, in fact, the very opposite," Zille said.

- SAPA