EDITORIAL: DA overshoots the mark

There is no doubt that the manner in which the DA has harnessed the Constitution and the law to hold President Jacob Zuma, the National Prosecuting Authority, Parliament and MPs accountable has been good for democracy and the country.

While other parties and critics tended to assume that the only solution to the Zuma problem was political, the DA’s dogged pursuance of a legal strategy has been a great success. Other opposition parties — the EFF and the United Democratic Movement (UDM) — have now followed its lead.

It is thanks to legal recourse that Zuma will have to relive the nightmare of his corruption charges when the Supreme Court of Appeal hears oral argument from his counsel on why he should be allowed to appeal the spy tapes judgment in September.

It will also be due to legal recourse should Zuma have to suffer the humiliation of a damaging public inquiry by Parliament in the next few months. The EFF has asked the Constitutional Court for an order on the back of the Nkandla judgment to compel Parliament to hold an inquiry into Zuma’s fitness to hold office. The DA and UDM have applied to join this application.

Last week’s motion of no confidence in Parliament, which flowed from the harnessing of constitutional remedies, was another fine example of the strength of this strategy. Through it, the opposition not only achieved an unprecedented schism in the ANC, but galvanised public support for its cause across the political spectrum.

What a pity then that the DA, filled with hubris and hoping to steal a march on other opposition parties, unilaterally announced that it would table a motion for the dissolution of Parliament. The official opposition party was in such haste when it took the decision that not even its own parliamentary caucus was consulted. The idea was immediately rejected by the broader opposition, which was also not consulted prior to the announcement. It was widely criticised by the public, most importantly by voters who previously backed the ANC and who are rethinking their allegiances.

While this "swing vote" has turned against Zuma, it may not be ready yet to turn on the ANC at large. It is, therefore, a motion without even a slim chance of success.

It is not surprising, given the success of its legalistic approach to politics over the past few years, that the DA’s key strategists would see a motion to dissolve Parliament as a logical next step.

After last week’s dramatic events, the party would naturally have been looking for ways to prolong its command of the political stage.

It would have been better advised, though, to have done the political work and alliance building necessary to bring at least some of the opposition and society along with it. Now the next step has backfired, with the DA overnight losing the support it had gathered.

The DA has responded to the criticism by arguing that it is the party’s constitutional duty to call for an election as it is patently obvious that the political allegiances and support are today not what they were three years ago, when people last voted in the national elections.

This is certainly the case, and more and more voters are up for grabs in the next election. These, though, are people the DA should be at pains to respect and reassure rather than spook and alienate.

While the DA’s strategists are excellent in lawfare, they are technocrats who too often forget that politics is first about people. Understanding what people think and feel is a necessary precursor to winning their support.