DE LILLE BATTLE
AUBREY MATSHIQI: Debacle shows DA wants to have black cake and eat it
In the nonracial society of the DA’s paternalistic colonial logic, blacks are successfully and properly assimilated into the dominant, white culture
The DA has tried everything, but she is still standing. If the court finds in favour of Patricia de Lille, the DA will rescind her membership for breathing in public. If that fails, they will get her on a charge of keeping her hair too long. The point is that the exact details of the tussle between De Lille and the DA are not very interesting. What matters is the fact that the De Lille-DA imbroglio is symptomatic of a much deeper problem. The DA has set itself the goal of winning a bigger chunk of the black vote but, at its core, it wants to keep its white liberal paternalistic colonial character intact. It wants to have its black cake and eat it. Essentially, it has succeeded in winning increasing levels of acceptance among black voters by misrepresenting itself and flashing a fake smile at its black members, supporters and leaders. Means to end The DA is not the natural home of the toyi-toyi and the freedom song. These are just a means to an end. What the De Lille debacle has expo...
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