GHALEB CACHALIA | Race and identity remain central to who governs in SA, and for whom

The election of Geordin Hill-Lewis to lead the DA marks another attempt by the party to resolve a question that has haunted it for more than a decade — does it have a shot at majority government in a country that is overwhelmingly black, or will it remain structurally confined to a minority base?

Hill-Lewis was candid in his first briefing. Winning the trust of black South Africans, who constitute about 80% of the population, would be “a main focus of mine”, he said. The clarity is welcome. But clarity of intent is not the same as execution. After all, the DA has been here before.

When Mmusi Maimane resigned in 2019 he did so with a blunt assessment that the party was “not the vehicle best suited” to build a united South Africa. That was not merely a personal lament; it was an indictment of an organisation that could not reconcile its liberal ideals with its internal political economy and voter base. The intervening years have not resolved that contradiction.

Hill-Lewis’s early statements have been thin on new policy. Instead, he appears to be doubling down on a familiar DA thesis that competent governance, fiscal prudence and a relentless focus on crime will, over time, attract broader support.

It is not an irrational wager. The party’s record in the Western Cape and Cape Town offers some empirical backing. But the question is whether competence alone is sufficient in a society where political allegiance is shaped as much by history, identity and trust as by service delivery.

Hill-Lewis’s much-referenced four-point plan underscores the problem. It speaks clearly to the “what” — growth, jobs, safety and clean government — but is silent on the “how”. It is in that gap where the DA’s real test lies.

First, governing more complex metros will expose the party in ways the Western Cape has not. Taking on deeply compromised municipalities such as Johannesburg or eThekwini is not simply a matter of applying technocratic fixes. These are ecosystems of patronage, institutional decay and political fragmentation. Success will require not only administrative competence but political dexterity, and a tolerance for messiness — not always the DA’s strength.

The DA understands the country’s failures — crime, corruption, stagnation — perhaps better than most. It needs to translate that diagnosis into a political project that resonates beyond its traditional base.

Second, and importantly, expanding its voter base will require more than messaging. It will mean winning the confidence of black voters while confronting the uncomfortable truth that parts of its existing support are anchored in a constituency that is resistant to transformation.

Jettisoning or even unsettling that rump carries risks to the party’s stability. Yet failing to do so risks confirming the very perceptions that limit its growth. This is not a communications problem; it is a structural one.

Third, the DA’s ideological positioning remains unresolved. Its instinctive neoliberalism, lightly reframed in social democratic language, has yet to find authentic expression in a country massively marked by inequality. Bridging that gap requires more than rhetorical calibration; it demands policy innovation that speaks credibly to markets and the marginalised.

Fourth, the realities of coalition and national governance will intensify these tensions. The contradictions inherent in working within, and against, the dominant party system will play out more quickly and more starkly. Navigating them may prove to be the DA’s own Scylla and Charybdis — the “lesser of two evils” dilemma. Veer too far toward pragmatism and risk losing identity; cling too tightly to orthodoxy and risk irrelevance.

Finally, as for “leading with belief” — that’s a familiar refrain in South African politics, often long on aspiration and short on delivery.

The DA understands the country’s failures — crime, corruption, stagnation — perhaps better than most. It needs to translate that diagnosis into a political project that resonates beyond its traditional base.

Until it answers the “how,” the party’s ambitions will remain just that — ambitions.

• Cachalia, a businessman and management consultant, is a former DA MP and shadow public enterprises minister, and chaired De Beers Namibia.