The Only Multi-Racial Party?

Every political party in South Africa sets out with the objective of being multi-racial - of having a healthy blend of black, white, coloured and Indian members. It's an enigma that's hard to chase down, because you have to pull different worldviews together and have everybody focusing in on the same objectives.

Let's for a moment look at the different political parties and be frank about their ethnic make-up. The ANC has always had strongly black roots, including a strong Xhosa influence, but pulling in considerable sections of Indian and coloured support too. The IFP has undoubtedly always been primarily a Zulu party. The UDM gets most of its support from blacks in Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The Minority Front represents the Indian vote, and the Freedom Front has a conservative white representation. The PAC and SACP have nearly always been primarily black parties. The ID are perhaps more difficult to class. The DA are still primarily a white party, with decent support from Indians and coloureds and some disenchanted blacks.

That brings us to the ACDP. The ACDP was founded from a black president's vision, has always had good white involvement, and has been effective in both the Indian areas of KZN and the coloured areas of the western provinces. The current NEC (National Executive Committee) is a full mix of the four of the primary ethnicities. Black support has always been a strong part of the party and Limpopo is a huge growth area among the blacks.

This is remarkable - can any other party in South Africa claim the representivity that the ACDP enjoy? How can it be possible? Simply, it's the Christian message that pulls everyone together. Christianity has been a stunningly successful unifier across the globe with millions of converts across China, Brazil, India, Europe, Africa, North America, etc. The ACDP has a rigorous set of values that don't shift with the winds and the party has always stressed its values over its personalities, which is why its members have less trouble looking beyond skin colour and looking to the issues themselves.

The implications are huge... the ACDP's ethnic balance simply makes the party better placed than the DA to replace the ANC. The DA will either need to shake off its "white party" image, or pull the majority black population to the point where they are disenchanted with the blacks' ability to run a government. On the contrary, the ACDP already have the ethnic balance that the DA crave, and with their emphasis on federalism over centralism are better able to adapt to the cultures of specific areas.

The Importance of Absolute Authority

I'll admit that's a frightening title, but let me elaborate...

Why does any political party have a reason to be honest?

There are a number of reasons: if voters discover dishonesty you may lose votes in the next elections, or you may have a stampeding protest outside your parliament. Then there's the media, snooping around all the time, splashing frontpage headlines across national media.

But beyond that, as evident with the ANC, you can get away with quite a lot, and if you stand behind barriers like the race card, you can get away with even more.

The critical standard here is what kind of authority does the party hold itself up to at election time? Service to the people? The mandate of the people? As you can imagine, these create plenty of room for shifting goalposts.

In contrast, the ACDP uses the Bible as its absolute authority, despite being under considerable pressure to abandon that stance in order to win more votes. Now there are of course grey areas that can't be determined from the Bible, such as certain aspects of economic policy, but others don't move. The Bible is a tough plumbline and even by its own definition nobody has risen completely to its standards. This is very good news for voters who can hold the government up to its own immovable standard. What some may see as a yoke can work out as a blessing.