Voting for people who look like us: A tribalistic smudge on the democratic trophy

“Although tribal loyalties inspire many noble behaviours, they can impel humans to sacrifice sound reasoning and judgmental accuracy for group belonging and commitment.”

I read this in an article by Clark et al, titled Tribalism is Human Nature. I thought it a fitting statement to describe the political landscape of South Africa where, even after 30 years of a constitutional democratic dispensation, it is common to hear people fall back on their racial, ethnic or cultural groups when justifying who they want to head the country’s governance. 

Tribalism is having strong loyalty to one’s own group or identity. In a nutshell, it is the “us versus them” mentality to which, unfortunately, many South Africans still subscribe . 

Tribalism is certainly an undertone of many South Africans’ way of thinking, which is probably ingrained in our psyche due to historical prejudices. Association and relatability on the basis of race is an ongoing phenomenon in South Africa. 

The 2022 Census shows that South Africa is made up of 50.5 million African/black people, 5 million coloured people, 4.5 million white people and 1.6 million Indian/ Asian people. Many of us, belonging to one of these racial groups, would really like to see the people who we vote for belonging to the same racial group as us. A more warped form of this would be not wanting to see a political candidate succeed simply because he or she belongs to a certain race. 

It comes as no surprise then that the majority of supporters who attended the manifesto launches of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on 10 February 2024 and the ANC on 24 February 2024, both at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, were African people. 

Both of these parties have implicitly, through the implementation of so-called “transformative” policies, and explicitly, through racial comments, manoeuvred within political tribalistic tendencies to the exclusion of non-black people in order to garner support from the African population.

This is a classic example of political tribalism. Oxford’s Dictionary of African Politics explains political tribalism as: “The manipulation of ethnic identity, whereby it is transformed into a kind of nationality in which leaders play on a community’s fear of losing out to other ethnic groups in the competition for power and resources in order to mobilise support. This is often done by demonising other communities, generating fear, and arguing that only by uniting behind a given leader can the group effectively defend its interests.”  

Politicians see tribalism through race as an opportunity to secure a comfortable position in government (not forgetting a handsome salary), all the while sowing deeper hatred. 

A clear example of race-baiting was seen in 2019 when EFF leader Julius Malema was bold enough to say to a crowd of supporters, “We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people — at least for now,” and in 2021, when he claimed during a media briefing that, “There is an Indian agenda to undermine Africans.”

These politicians use the race card to appeal to people, especially those of African origin, to support their party on the basis that their party will make their specific community’s life better, when in actual fact (as seen in the past 30 years of ANC tyranny), only a few elite individuals benefit, while the rest of the population struggles to make ends meet.

Race is, unfortunately, a key factor in contemporary political discussions. I recently watched Andile Mngxitama, leader of the Black First Land First party, being interviewed by Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh on the SMWX YouTube channel. I was surprised when I heard him saying he remembered Mngxitama as one of the first people to raise the fact that if an opposition coalition came into power, we could have a white president from the Democratic Alliance (DA) running the country and that this would be a “hugely symbolic moment” if “30 years after apartheid we would go back to a white president coming from a particular ideological perspective”.

Maybe this is a Gen-Z characteristic, or possibly because of my strong allegiance to the Constitution, but the social demographic of the president matters far less to me than having an integrous and competent president. 

I grew up (post-apartheid, of course,) being taught that we, children of Nelson Mandela, live in a non-racial country where everyone should be viewed as equal. I am fully aware that this is more of an objective than a reality, but the least we can do is make an attempt to blind ourselves to race and look at each other as human beings first and foremost. 

This inclusive way of thinking is propagated by many mainstream religions. For example, Christianity which is South Africa’s most popular religion, advocates in John 7:24 of the Bible to, “Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.” 

That being said, the disinclination towards tribalism by race is also a core legal principle in our country, as section 1(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, states that our country is a sovereign and democratic nation founded on the principle of non-racialism, and since this Constitution is the supreme law of our land as per section 2, it means that its provisions have to be upheld be every single person and entity in South Africa. 

Being attracted to a party that one can relate to, even if it is on racial lines, is a very human tendency. The problem comes when we align ourselves with these parties solely on the basis of race, completely ignoring the principles of the party and the smartness of their agenda. 

There is an archetype of this that I am constantly seeing. The illogical disdain for capitalism and the rallying support for socialist policies is one that I have been exposed to in academic and social spheres. I have actually heard someone say, “It’s all capitalism’s fault,” when they were dreading a deadline in their line of work. Notably, this person was a sympathiser with the ANC and EFF’s political beliefs. 

Despite the fact that socialism has been tried and tested, with dismal results, in several other countries, South Africans still fall prey to the delusion that complete socialism is what is needed to eradicate poverty and inequality. 

Consider Cuba, which has been a one-party communist state that prohibits political pluralism for almost 50 years. It encountered an 88% poverty rate in 2023, according to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights. 

Another example would be Vietnam. In an article by Hieu and Koo titled The Recent Economic Performance and Poverty Reduction in Vietnam, it was noted that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which has existed for more than 75 years, had a poverty rate of 58% in 1993. 

According to the International Monetary Fund, by 2014, this was down to 14%. The World Bank attributed this transformation to the shift in Vietnam’s governance style from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. The former is one where the prices of resources, goods and services are determined by the government and the latter is one where private enterprises have greater authority in such price determination. 

Taking into account the successes and failures of other economies, and the politics that led to it, is a crucial consideration when voting for a political party in South Africa, which will have power for half a decade after an election takes place, essentially because they will determine how the economy develops.

Not to say that capitalism is free of faults. In its extremity, capitalism does pose an exploitative and exclusionary danger to vulnerable groups. However, having a ruling party that is well balanced between left and right and knows how to achieve controlled capitalism in a mixed-market economy can be a catalyst to economic growth and social cohesion in South Africa. 

At the moment, we might have liberal (and understandable) demands, such as grants for those who cannot provide for themselves, better access to healthcare and education, etc, But with what money? How can we achieve these noble causes and equity-driven pursuits when South Africa has a diminishing tax base? 

If the 2024 national budget shows that there are only about 7 million individual taxpayers in South Africa, but we have a total population of about 60 million people of which 28 million are dependent on grants, then how can South Africa develop sustainably? 

The solution is simple — South Africans have to give their attention to those parties that help to grow the private sector, that support entrepreneurship and that encourage development of a society that is incrementally less dependent on welfare from the state for survival. 

South Africans who are lured by the racial prejudices exacerbated by politicians who favour extreme left-wing sentiments are not acting in a manner that can ensure South Africa becomes a contender with relatively prosperous nations such as Japan, Singapore  and the US.

We are in the 21st century and this leads to the questions: “When will things change? When will we blind ourselves to the skin colour of the political candidate and rather give our full attention to the skills, abilities, qualifications, morals and values that they have as well as the worthiness of their political vision?” 

This latter form of thinking is directly related to the concept of meritocracy, which can be seen, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, as a “political, social or economic system in which individuals are assigned to positions of power, influence or reward solely on the basis of their abilities and achievements and not on the basis of their social, cultural, or economic background or irrelevant personal characteristics”. 

In essence, it means choosing the political candidate and party that can do the job best. So, while democracy gives everyone a say in who governs a country, people use this opportunity to choose the most suitable candidate based on their skill and ability to grow the nation.

I strongly believe that South Africa is in need of a ruling political party that has the highest level of respect for the Constitution and the rule of law, that understands there should be a separation between the ruling party and the state, and that believes in devolving power to locate government as close to the people as possible. 

The good news is that such a political party does exist in our country.  To reveal the name would be an injustice to the promotion of critical examination of the parties that are out there and the need to thoroughly and personally investigate which parties’ policies are the best for the economy. 

The twenty-ninth of May 2024 will be South Africa’s kairos (Greek for the “right” or “critical moment”). On this day, South Africans will wield unparalleled power in determining who will be able to lift our nation from the quagmire of economic collapse and finally put us on the world stage as a country with vast amounts of resources and the potential of pinnacle prosperity. 

I hope that South Africans will be racially blind and economically awake as they make their mark.

Darshen Naidoo is a legal researcher completing his master of laws in international economic law and MBA in healthcare management.