The DA’s Perceived Efficiency: A Mirage of Competence in South Africa’s Local Politics
A Familiar, Frustrating Narrative
As the 2026 local government elections loom on South Africa’s horizon, a familiar, disheartening story emerges once again. Like a broken record, we brace ourselves for the predictable chorus from middle-class Black South Africans. They claim the Democratic Alliance (DA) is “highly organised”. It is viewed as a beacon of pragmatism and seen as a sensible choice for local governance. They’ll murmur it in boardrooms. People will debate it over braais. They will proclaim it on social media with a mix of resignation and conviction. They argue that the DA’s perceived efficiency makes it the lesser evil. It is considered the rational vote.
This holds true even if the party’s national politics leave a sour taste. But this thinking, this insidious, recycled myth, ignites my anger, stirs my grief, and demands our unrelenting scrutiny. It betrays the poor. It surrenders to spin. It painfully reminds us of how far we’ve drifted from the dream of a just South Africa.
The Myth of Competence
For decades, the DA’s perceived efficiency has been the cornerstone of its appeal. It attracts a growing segment of Black middle-class voters. These voters include professionals, entrepreneurs, and civil servants. They are weary of mismanagement and corruption in Black-led parties like the ANC. They turn to the DA as a supposed bastion of competence. They point to clean streets in affluent suburbs. They also mention prompt refuse collection and well-kept parks.
These are seen as proof of the DA’s superior governance. “Look at Cape Town,” they’ll say, “or parts of Johannesburg when the DA held power.” They claim the DA’s perceived efficiency is a practical reality. It is a reason to overlook the party’s troubling history. Its tone-deaf rhetoric and policies often abandon the most vulnerable. But this narrative is a fragile house of cards. It is built on half-truths and slick PR. It’s time we tear it down with the fury it deserves.
Structural Advantages, Not Skill
Let’s confront the obvious. The DA predominantly governs areas that were already affluent. These areas were already equipped with the infrastructure, revenue, and human capital to function smoothly. Consider the Western Cape’s wealthier municipalities: Cape Town’s southern suburbs, Stellenbosch, or Drakenstein. These are places where apartheid-era planning funnelled resources into white communities. They left behind roads, sewers, and electrical grids that need little more than routine upkeep.
The DA’s perceived efficiency thrives in these enclaves. This is because the hard work was done decades ago. It was accomplished not by the DA but by a system designed to privilege a minority. Meanwhile, poorer wards and townships like Khayelitsha, Mamelodi, or Atteridgeville languish under the same DA rule. They are starved of investment. Their potholed roads and broken streetlights silently rebuke a party that prioritises optics over equity.
Tshwane: A Case Study in Neglect
Take Tshwane, for example, under the leadership of Cilliers Brink. Here, the DA’s perceived efficiency was put to the test, and it failed spectacularly yet somehow dodged the backlash it deserved. Brink’s administration leaned hard into austerity and outsourcing, slashing public services to balance budgets while poorer communities bore the brunt. In townships like Soshanguve and Hammanskraal, residents endured water shortages and uncollected refuse.
The DA’s perceived efficiency is a lie we’ve been sold. It is a comforting fiction that lets the middle class sleep at night. Meanwhile, their brothers and sisters drown in neglect.
They also faced crumbling infrastructure. Meanwhile, the DA’s media machine churned out glossy reports of “progress”. The DA’s perceived efficiency is a selective mirage. Only those in leafy suburbs see it. They never venture beyond their gated estates. Middle-class Black South Africans are swayed by clever spin and symbolic gestures. They continue to sing the party’s praises. They are blind to the suffering of their kin.
A Betrayal Dressed as Rationality
This is not just a failure of governance. It’s a failure of imagination. It is a surrender to a neoliberal consensus that masquerades as “rational voting”. The DA’s perceived efficiency is not a product of superior leadership but of structural advantages and a well-oiled PR campaign. The party has mastered the art of symbolic politics. There are photo ops of blue-shirted volunteers cleaning streets. They issue press releases touting “clean audits”.
They also create carefully curated social media posts that amplify successes while burying failures. Meanwhile, the lived reality of the poor Black South Africans in townships and informal settlements goes ignored. The DA’s perceived efficiency is a lie we’ve been sold. It is a comforting fiction that lets the middle class sleep at night. Meanwhile, their brothers and sisters drown in neglect.
The Stakes of 2026
Why does this matter? Because the stakes could not be higher as we approach the 2026 local government elections. The DA’s perceived efficiency is a dangerous myth, one that risks entrenching inequality and absolving the party of accountability. When middle-class Black voters endorse the DA at the local level, they lend credibility to the party. This party, at its core, remains tone-deaf to the struggles of the majority.
This is not just a failure of governance. It’s a failure of imagination.
The DA’s national politics resist meaningful land reform. Its lukewarm stance on affirmative action and its obsession with market-driven solutions reveal a worldview. This worldview prioritises the comfortable over the desperate. And yet, the DA’s perceived efficiency at the local level acts as a Trojan horse. It sneaks the party into power under the guise of competence. Then, the party delivers policies that deepen the divide between rich and poor.
Neoliberal Cruelty in Action
Let’s be clear: the DA’s perceived efficiency is not a neutral, apolitical trait. It’s a weapon, wielded to maintain power in a country still bleeding from the wounds of apartheid. In Tshwane, Brink’s austerity measures gutted services in areas with already struggling schools, clinics, and community centres. These facilities were left to rot while the DA patted itself on the back for “fiscal responsibility”.
Outsourcing, a hallmark of neoliberal governance, transferred essential services to private companies. These services included waste management and water provision. As a result, costs increased and accountability diminished. The result? Poorer wards, overwhelmingly Black, were abandoned. Their pleas for help were drowned out by the chorus of middle-class voices lauding the DA’s perceived efficiency. This is not competence; it’s cruelty, cloaked in the language of pragmatism.
The Media’s Complicity
And yet, the media our media, Black journalists included has been complicit in this farce. Why was there no sustained outcry over Tshwane’s neglected townships? Why did headlines celebrate “clean audits” while ignoring the stench of uncollected garbage in Mamelodi? The answer lies in the power of perception. The DA’s perceived efficiency is a narrative not shaped by reality.
It is shaped by spin. This is amplified by a media ecosystem that caters to the middle class and the elite. Middle-class Black South Africans are detached from the daily grind of township life. They consume this narrative eagerly. They mistake manicured parks in Sandton for evidence of good governance. The DA’s perceived efficiency, then, is not a reflection of performance. It is a triumph of branding. It is a sad, infuriating testament to how easily we’re swayed by optics.
A Call to Anger and Grief
As a journalist, I’m angry at the DA for exploiting structural inequalities to prop up its image. I’m angry at the media because they fail to hold them accountable. I’m also angry at my own people, the Black middle class, for buying into this lie. But more than that, I’m sad. I’m sad for the residents of Hammanskraal, who drink contaminated water while the DA touts its “efficiency”.
I’m sad for the children of Soshanguve, who play in streets littered with trash because austerity deemed their neighbourhoods unworthy. I’m sad for a country. It has been 31 years since democracy. The country still allows the DA’s perceived efficiency to blind us to the suffering of millions.
Stay Vigilant, South Africa
So, as the 2026 local government elections draw near, I beg you: stay vigilant. Do not be seduced by the DA’s perceived efficiency, by the promise of clean streets and balanced budgets. Look beyond the suburbs. Look beyond the press releases. Focus on the townships and informal settlements. These are where the true test of governance lies. Demand better, not just from the DA, but from all parties, Black-led or otherwise. Hold them to account for every ward, every community, and every life left behind. The DA’s perceived efficiency dazzles, but it’s a light that casts long, dark shadows over the poor. We can’t, we must not let this mirage define our future.
A Fight for True Justice
This is not just about voting; it’s about values, about the South Africa we want to build. Will we settle for a system that rewards the affluent and punishes the poor? Will we let the DA’s perceived efficiency excuse its neglect and its bias? Will we excuse its failure to bridge the gap between rich and poor? Or will we rise? Will we become angry and resolute?
We must demand a governance that serves all of us—Black, white, rich, poor, suburban, and township alike. The choice is ours, but the clock is ticking. The 2026 elections are coming. With these elections, we have the chance to reject the illusion of the DA’s perceived efficiency. We can fight for a South Africa that truly belongs to all.
