Right off the bat let’s make one thing clear here – that headline is a question posed directly in the Mail&Guardian article entitled ‘The ANC, the Cape and the ‘coloured’ question’. We don’t you want you hurling abuse in our direction, you know about not shooting the messenger right?

The article, which discusses the political landscape of the Western Cape, raises the issue of how the province has come to be the only area not under ANC rule. The eighth provincial conference of the African National Congress in the Cape recently ended, with one of the hot topics being the issue of the coloured constituency and where their political allegiance lies.

In an interview with ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs, he was pressed on whether or not the coloured vote was ‘real’, the issue of coloured identity and how the party plans to engage with that particular community. We’re going to start pulling excerpts from that article to summarise what went down:

From the outset, Jacobs emphasised the party’s stance, saying the ultimate objective was a non-racial, non-sexist society…

Jacobs said the consequence of slavery and almost six centuries of colonialism was illustrated in a lack of security in the coloured identity.

“It is evident in people constantly questioning themselves. They are never at peace with themselves,” he said.

Jacobs said that although the last 20 years of democracy had brought about new freedoms, there remained an “enslavement of the mind”.

“Coloured people are still enslaved with feelings of inferiority. This thing of not being white enough or black enough, of not being South African enough, it is a common theme,” he said. “Whether real or perceived, there is a feeling of marginalisation.”

So what has the ANC done wrong to prompt coloured voters to change allegiance?

[Jacobs said] the ANC in the Western Cape had been its own worst enemy, allowing internal fighting to get in the way of delivering services to the province.

He said that the coloured community in the province had “punished and rewarded political parties”, demonstrating political shrewdness.

What is the plan to get voters back on board with the party’s plans for the province going forward?

“Part of the strategy is to create spaces and platforms, spaces where people see each other, acknowledge one another,” said Jacobs.

Not only would these platforms provide means for coloured communities to thrash out issues of identity, it would also serve as a space for communities of varying race groups to meet and share experiences.

“We want to create platforms for the comrade from Hanover Park to connect with the comrade from Langa where they are able to say, ‘We have our differences but we also share the same experiences, the same struggles’,” he said.

We’ll finish with Jacobs paying homage the Rainbow Nation ideals:

“When we leave work every day, we go back into our lagers. We need to get out of our comfort zones.”

“We want to talk non-racialism,” he said, “People are not born prejudiced, they are socialised that way.”

Where does this leave us? It seems many of us here in the Cape are believers in the notion that actions speak louder than words. Produce the goods and you’ll win many a supporter, but fail to deliver on years of grand promises and people will eventually become disillusioned.

[source:mg]