When the fires of controversy ignite: The DA’s latest flagrant folly

The flag is more than a piece of fabric fluttering in the wind. It represents a people’s triumph over oppression and an aspiration about a future in which all South Africans can stand as equals.

When the fires of controversy ignite, especially around a symbol as potent as a nation’s flag, the embers summon history, culture and collective national identity. In South Africa, where the scars of apartheid remain etched in the social landscape, the flag is a living symbol of reconciliation, unity and the enduring hope for a brighter future. 

It is in this context that the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) advertisement, which showed the burning of the national flag, is a grave and grievous affront to the ideal of reconciliation and nation building. 

The flag is far more than a mere piece of fabric fluttering in the wind. Unlike the apartheid flag, the post-apartheid pennant represents a people’s triumph over oppression and an aspiration about a future in which all South Africans — black and white — can stand as equals. The flag should not be a pawn in a cynical political game.

To incinerate such a symbol is a vulgar spit at the memories of our fellow compatriots who lost their lives in the long and difficult birth of our democracy. It violates the memories of millions who made sacrifices in the struggle against apartheid to free all of us regardless of race and party-political affiliation. It is similarly an act of violence against those who continue to suffer the indignities of the legacy of the past and an egregious explosion of the bridges we have sought, painstakingly to build over the last three decades. 

Why would a political party act in the manner the DA has done? The answer lies in the party’s pernicious strain of colonial prejudice and its deep-seated aversion to the post-1994 nation-building project. To appreciate it, we must go back to the DA’s 1999 “Fight back” campaign, which was conceived and appropriately understood by the party’s support base, as a counter assault to the process of ridding the country of its apartheid past. With this year’s “Rescue South Africa” (read: rescue South Africa from marauding blacks) the DA now successfully surpassed the National Party’s rooi en swart gevaar posture as the staple diet offering to sections of the white population brought up in the belief that their existence depends on the racial subjugation of the majority African population. 

It is to the same prejudice that we must turn to understand the DA’s recent shrill letter to the white world, urging it to supervise our forthcoming national elections. The flag burning advertisement further defines the DA as nothing but a white minority party hankering on the mutually reinforcing bygone colonial and apartheid eras.

Unless the party changes — and there are no signs that the leopard is about to change its spots — their campaigns will always be about colonialism and apartheid, which means that they will always be fighting back against every effort, big and small, to move the country away from the twin evils. They will therefore continue to scratch old wounds and obstruct the construction of a shared South African future.  

The flag, the national anthem, the coat of arms, national holidays and similar such platforms should be harnessed to rally the nation together and a reminder that South Africa can overcome its darkest chapters and to build a common future. They are symbols that can unite diverse backgrounds under a common banner of hope. Setting the flag ablaze undermines this.

The DA’s latest stunt begs many questions. Among them are: What kind of leadership does South Africa need? Is it a leadership that fans the flames of division for short-term political gain or one that seeks to bridge gaps, foster understanding, and promote a shared sense of destiny? The forthcoming national general elections make these questions ever more pressing. 

Of course, South Africa deserves better. We deserve a political leadership that respects us and our national symbols, a leadership that honours our history and seeks to build a cohesive society. We know from our own history and the experiences of other countries that the alternative is no alternative at all. 

The Democratic Alliance, and indeed all political actors in South Africa, must be reminded of this fundamental truth and we should forcefully insist they act accordingly.

Siyabulela Gebe is the head of policy and advocacy at the Thabo Mbeki Foundation.