Opinion / Columnist
Zille's attitude is one of colonial denial
2 hrs ago | 33 Views
Helen Zille's recent appearance on Newsroom Africa drew attention for her casual dismissal of Israel's genocidal violence in Palestine. This was not just a passing remark. It revealed an attitude that goes beyond one politician.
It captured a way of thinking that prizes order and efficiency while pushing aside questions of justice. This way of thinking has a long history. It comes from the colonial playbook, and today it sits comfortably in neoliberal politics.
Colonial powers justified their rule through denial. They portrayed indigenous peoples as inferior and depicted conquest as the progress of civilisation, development and law. Beneath this rhetoric of progress, there were forced removals, violent massacres and, most starkly, the genocide committed in Namibia in the early 1900s against the Herero and Nama peoples.
This mindset reframed atrocities as accidents. It turned destruction into something regrettable but inevitable. Responsibility was shifted onto the colonised. The same logic operates in Palestine today. Bombed hospitals, starved families, and destroyed universities are not recognised as evidence of genocide. They are written off as collateral damage. This denial strips Palestinians of their humanity and makes their suffering invisible.
In today's politics, denial is often dressed up in the language of efficiency. Competence and delivery are presented as neutral virtues. But in practice, they protect privilege. They keep us from facing inequality. They reduce justice to order and cast transformation as disruption.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has made this its brand. It tells voters that managerial skill and technical competence are the highest political virtues. Within this frame, restitution and redress fall away. Zille's dismissal of genocide flows directly from this outlook. It shows how the language of efficiency can be used to excuse denial.
She has now declared her candidacy for Johannesburg mayor in next year's local elections. The city faces crises such as inequality, exclusion, widespread corruption and failing services, calling for bold reforms. But Zille offers efficiency - highlighting competence and management - where profound transformation is needed.
The city is in crisis. It has been badly mismanaged for years. Corruption, incompetence and blatant disregard for residents persist across many political parties in Johannesburg. People are exhausted by endless promises while traffic lights fail, potholes grow, water outages continue and power failures become a daily occurrence.
It is also true that Cape Town, governed by the DA, runs more efficiently and has less corruption than Johannesburg. It's easy to see that a DA-led city would ensure functioning streetlights, working traffic signals, cleaner streets and reliable services in the suburbs. This outlook naturally appeals to middle-class residents of all backgrounds, who are weary of decline and inadequate services.
But if the price of that efficiency is the normalisation of genocidal violence in Gaza, the price is too high. A city cannot be rebuilt on moral bankruptcy. What South Africa needs is a new form of politics - one that combines efficiency with ethical seriousness. We need leaders who can run cities competently, without corruption, while also standing clearly for justice. At present, that option is not on the ballot paper.
The Palestinian struggle cannot be understood in isolation. Its people are subjected to forced removals, restrictions on movement and denial of political rights. We know these realities. We recall the pass laws, Bantustans and racial segregation.
To disregard these parallels is to deny the shared history of colonised peoples. It breaks the chain of solidarity that links struggles for dignity across continents. It treats Palestine as an exception when it is part of a wider pattern of oppression.
The language of efficiency is rarely neutral. It secures privilege by narrowing politics to administration. It reassures the powerful that nothing fundamental will change.
Applied to Palestine, this perspective diminishes genocide to a matter of governance. Mass death is recast as a security issue. Structural violence is regarded as a technical issue. Neutrality becomes complicity when violence is left unnamed.
A politics of restitution begins with recognition of harm. It accepts responsibility and affirms that justice requires structural change.
In South Africa, this means tackling the legacies of apartheid: land inequality, economic exclusion and segregated living spaces. These cannot be resolved through efficiency alone. They require redistribution and restructuring.
In Palestine, restitution means ending the occupation, dismantling apartheid structures and affirming the right of return and self-determination. It requires recognising Palestinians as fully human.
Efficiency and accountability matter, but they only have value when connected to justice. Efficiency must serve redistribution. Anti-corruption efforts must bolster fairness. Without this broader vision, efficiency is an empty slogan.
Our transition shows what happens when efficiency is separated from justice. The end of apartheid left entrenched privilege largely intact. Service delivery has often been prioritised above restitution. Redistribution is framed as impractical or destabilising.
Zille's denial of genocide on Newsroom Africa fits neatly into this pattern. It is the same politics that manages inequality rather than transforms it. Her mayoral campaign will bring this approach to Johannesburg. The city needs justice-driven change, not managerial containment.
Johannesburg needs functioning traffic lights, fewer potholes, and dependable services. However, it also requires leadership guided by a moral compass. A city cannot be repaired solely through efficiency; it also needs ethics. Until we find a politics that incorporates both, we will remain caught between misrule and moral failure.
---------------
Professor Aslam Fataar is based in the Department of Education Policy Studies at Stellenbosch University, and Dr Imraan Buccus is a senior research associate at the Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute and research fellow at the University of the Free State.
It captured a way of thinking that prizes order and efficiency while pushing aside questions of justice. This way of thinking has a long history. It comes from the colonial playbook, and today it sits comfortably in neoliberal politics.
Colonial powers justified their rule through denial. They portrayed indigenous peoples as inferior and depicted conquest as the progress of civilisation, development and law. Beneath this rhetoric of progress, there were forced removals, violent massacres and, most starkly, the genocide committed in Namibia in the early 1900s against the Herero and Nama peoples.
This mindset reframed atrocities as accidents. It turned destruction into something regrettable but inevitable. Responsibility was shifted onto the colonised. The same logic operates in Palestine today. Bombed hospitals, starved families, and destroyed universities are not recognised as evidence of genocide. They are written off as collateral damage. This denial strips Palestinians of their humanity and makes their suffering invisible.
In today's politics, denial is often dressed up in the language of efficiency. Competence and delivery are presented as neutral virtues. But in practice, they protect privilege. They keep us from facing inequality. They reduce justice to order and cast transformation as disruption.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has made this its brand. It tells voters that managerial skill and technical competence are the highest political virtues. Within this frame, restitution and redress fall away. Zille's dismissal of genocide flows directly from this outlook. It shows how the language of efficiency can be used to excuse denial.
She has now declared her candidacy for Johannesburg mayor in next year's local elections. The city faces crises such as inequality, exclusion, widespread corruption and failing services, calling for bold reforms. But Zille offers efficiency - highlighting competence and management - where profound transformation is needed.
The city is in crisis. It has been badly mismanaged for years. Corruption, incompetence and blatant disregard for residents persist across many political parties in Johannesburg. People are exhausted by endless promises while traffic lights fail, potholes grow, water outages continue and power failures become a daily occurrence.
It is also true that Cape Town, governed by the DA, runs more efficiently and has less corruption than Johannesburg. It's easy to see that a DA-led city would ensure functioning streetlights, working traffic signals, cleaner streets and reliable services in the suburbs. This outlook naturally appeals to middle-class residents of all backgrounds, who are weary of decline and inadequate services.
But if the price of that efficiency is the normalisation of genocidal violence in Gaza, the price is too high. A city cannot be rebuilt on moral bankruptcy. What South Africa needs is a new form of politics - one that combines efficiency with ethical seriousness. We need leaders who can run cities competently, without corruption, while also standing clearly for justice. At present, that option is not on the ballot paper.
The Palestinian struggle cannot be understood in isolation. Its people are subjected to forced removals, restrictions on movement and denial of political rights. We know these realities. We recall the pass laws, Bantustans and racial segregation.
The language of efficiency is rarely neutral. It secures privilege by narrowing politics to administration. It reassures the powerful that nothing fundamental will change.
Applied to Palestine, this perspective diminishes genocide to a matter of governance. Mass death is recast as a security issue. Structural violence is regarded as a technical issue. Neutrality becomes complicity when violence is left unnamed.
A politics of restitution begins with recognition of harm. It accepts responsibility and affirms that justice requires structural change.
In South Africa, this means tackling the legacies of apartheid: land inequality, economic exclusion and segregated living spaces. These cannot be resolved through efficiency alone. They require redistribution and restructuring.
In Palestine, restitution means ending the occupation, dismantling apartheid structures and affirming the right of return and self-determination. It requires recognising Palestinians as fully human.
Efficiency and accountability matter, but they only have value when connected to justice. Efficiency must serve redistribution. Anti-corruption efforts must bolster fairness. Without this broader vision, efficiency is an empty slogan.
Our transition shows what happens when efficiency is separated from justice. The end of apartheid left entrenched privilege largely intact. Service delivery has often been prioritised above restitution. Redistribution is framed as impractical or destabilising.
Zille's denial of genocide on Newsroom Africa fits neatly into this pattern. It is the same politics that manages inequality rather than transforms it. Her mayoral campaign will bring this approach to Johannesburg. The city needs justice-driven change, not managerial containment.
Johannesburg needs functioning traffic lights, fewer potholes, and dependable services. However, it also requires leadership guided by a moral compass. A city cannot be repaired solely through efficiency; it also needs ethics. Until we find a politics that incorporates both, we will remain caught between misrule and moral failure.
---------------
Professor Aslam Fataar is based in the Department of Education Policy Studies at Stellenbosch University, and Dr Imraan Buccus is a senior research associate at the Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute and research fellow at the University of the Free State.
Source - M&G
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