ROAD TO ELECTIONS ANALYSIS
The DA flag ad — what was the opposition thinking? The party answers our burning questions
The centrepiece at the launch of the DA’s latest election advert includes the burning of a South African flag as an allegory of what could happen to South Africa if an ANC-EFF-MK government were to govern the country.
It’s a busy time on the election campaign trail. On Sunday evening, I was trying to squeeze in a late invitation to senior journalists to meet with the DA top team at its HQ in Bruma, Johannesburg. With a day spent in Khutsong and Merafong reporting on the EFF on the West Rand and trying to chase the former deputy president David Mabuza, who has been coaxed out of retirement to hit the campaign trail for the ANC, I didn’t make it.
While I usually enjoy the slick expertise of DA functions and learnt a lot about candidate selection when we met its top young candidates recently, I was happy to have missed this occasion. The centre-piece of the event was the unveiling of the party’s fourth advert, which included the burning of a South African flag as an allegory of what could happen to South Africa if an ANC-EFF-MK government were to govern the country.
The flag, it has to be said, is returned to its full state as the critical message unfurls: the DA holds the key to the nation’s longevity. A firestorm hit the party after it touched people on their studio.
We love our flag, and seeing it burn has got many people seething, including the former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela and others.
Commentators have pointed out that part of free expression is the right to burn a flag. It’s true. But the ad felt contrived and ill-considered to me. The flag is a beautiful symbol of what joins us when so much divides us.
It is adopted across our divides to stretch in its chaos of colours to bind us together at moments when violence, the precarity of life here for so many and the fractures of our past could so easily cause disintegration. It is the flag we unfurl to join us in moments that make us smile — a big rugby win, an improved Bafana Bafana score, an election successfully concluded. ‘A ‘squeeze’ ad’ — what this is — brings out voters to help a party in its last mile.
The DA has a tough campaign with competition on its left and right flanks. Start-ups like ActionSA (led by former DA mayor Herman Mashaba), Rise Mzansi, and Bosa (led by former DA leader Mmusi Maimane) are hurting. On its conservative, nationalist flank, the party is feeling the heat from the Freedom Front Plus (for the white vote) and the Patriotic Alliance (for the coloured vote).
A screenshot of the DA’s election campaign video, which shows a South African flag burning. (Photo: Screenshot from YouTube)
While its smart young campaigners may consider all the attention the ad is getting to be the job done, is it? The party has a responsibility beyond winning elections. As the official opposition, it is a critical agent of social cohesion or, more simply, keeping us together when so much could rent us asunder.
Here’s what we were thinking:
Ashor Sarupen, first deputy chairperson of the DA Federal Council, responded to Daily Maverick’s questions.
“This is our fourth advert, and nobody has commented on the others, which surprises me. I would have thought responsible journalism would also want to look at a campaign holistically and see the overarching message,” Sarupen stated.
Question: What was the purpose of the ad?
Answer: The ad aims to draw voters’ attention to the fact that even though South Africa is on the verge of political change, there are two options available to voters regarding what that change will look like.
MK has called for the scrapping of the constitution and replacing it with a system of parliamentary supremacy (Apartheid-style), and the EFF has demanded control of the fiscus. The ANC seems ready to give away all of South Africa’s institutions and safeguards to stay in power if the municipal arrangements are anything to go by. Our constitution, institutions, and safeguards are represented by the flag, and they are at risk in this election.
When we say to voters, ‘imagine a coalition between the ANC, violent EFF and Zuma factions’ is when the flag burns — because that is exactly what these parties have in mind. It is a matter of public record now that the EFF and MK have grand designs that will destroy our constitutional order and precious stability. It is jarring to see this visually represented, but the stakes are that high.
The ad ends with the *restoration* of the flag — which is only possible if voters unite behind an alternative that respects our constitution and institutions. This restoration is overlayed with the message “Unite to Rescue South Africa” and clearly says to voters that in this election, the path to protecting and defending our flag, our constitution, our democracy and our institutions is by voting for an alternative to the coalition of corruption.
Q: It’s a so-called ‘squeeze ad’— who is the party squeezing? How do you balance the politics of elections with the responsibility of social cohesion and unity symbolised by our flag?
A: It is not irresponsible to warn voters that the path to destruction lies in a government that is dominated by the ideas of MK and the EFF. They are the actual threat to social cohesion and unity – they scapegoat South Africans based on race with very little blowback from the press. We are trying to squeeze undecided voters who want to protect, defend and rescue South Africa.
Q: Has the blowback surprised you?
A: The blowback is only on X, which, as we all know, is dominated by bots and is not the real world. Unfortunately, too much of the South African commentary class gets ensnared by the discourse on X. We maintain that an ANC-EFF-MK coalition will reduce South Africa to ashes, and we are only surprised at how many commentators seem to think that such a coalition won’t be a disaster. DM
Joh! How many carefully selected focus groups does it take to get off song? Burning the one symbol that unites the country – even if only when the Boks play – that doesn’t seem especially smart.
When the ANC are actually doing it by their disgraceful ‘management’ of this benighted (by them!) country, I reckon it has to have been one of the cleverest ads ever. Certainly got your attention, didn’t it.
Another storm in a teacup. I wish the DA would be more sensitive, but the reaction just shows how desperate people are to find some fault with the DA. By this time any literate person knows the only party that has any hope to get the country out of the sinking sand of corruption & decay is the DA; it’s just too hard for them to accept when a “white” party rubs their noses in it. The impact of false dichotomies and identity politics on our national psychology should get more attention from curious and competent journalists.
It seems to me that this is the most sensitive the DA can get. The problem as I see it is the assumption by the DA that people will see the allegory and not erely have a standard gut reaction. But the DA assumptions are clearly wrong because people are not taught to think. They are only taught to react. There’s the rub.
Agree. The media should at least try to bring some sense and balance into the equation instead of just fueling the fire (so to speak). The DA should focus their message on their proven ability to run a competent administration on a national level.
Exactly Look how the media goes for the reaction with its exaggerated headline. The best thing of course would be not to give you browny points for clickbaiting If this is all we have to worry about ( miniscule compared to the rest) we should say we are lucky. At some stage if one can vote one self in the right direction out of trouble the electorate must take some responsibility and people like Madonsela must grow a spine instead of mumbling sweet nothings. As for Haferjee I remember her comments (in an interview in an airline magazine if I remember rightly ) saying she was proud of having been a beneficiary of affirmative action and that young white males must swim in the pond like everyone else. So those with a vote, a goodly number not even prepared to use it By the way Haffajee what am I to say to my male sons and grandsons about you. But if we say anything remotely like the DA does you might STILL say what were we thinking. Pretty obvious I would have thought. I would say your politics has been barking up the wrong tree for far too long and your pernickety articles about the DA bear obvious testimony to that fact
No actually it’s. fault in your IT again.
Exactly this. For me, justifications and explanations aside, the whole point of this drama that cannot be so easily dismissed is: A political party that wants to convince us that it has the right knowledge, sufficient experience, and the winning strategy to govern nationally (instead of just provincially) can’t even put together an advertising campaign that doesn’t miss the mark and divide opinion. Not opinion about governance or policy, but about symbology!
South Africa has a plentiful supply of absolutely brilliant creative agencies that regularly win international recognition for masterful ad campaigns. And the current context is ripe with opportunity to tap into people’s dissatisfaction about their quality of life (or lack thereof). It can’t be this hard to get it right, to make it inspirational, to have it resonate with people from all walks of life, it really can’t. This illustrates a lack of competence — and thus it becomes difficult to resist the speculation that the only way it could have ended up like this, is either by going too cheap, or not listening to the advice of professionals, or through nepotism in contracting.
It’s honestly so exhausting to have our hopes for a better future continually dashed by the utter mediocrity of the supposedly-best alternative to the governing party.
Rubbish!
SA has been destroyed (burnt) by the ANC! The ANC has been burning SA for 30 years so they can rule
over the ashes!
‘With our matches and necklaces we will liberate this country!’ (ANC Winnie Mandela).
With you 100% Greeff.
Bet you are bot
Running an add campaign is a whole lot less important than than making practical progress in fixing so many things from infrastucture to the rule of law which defines basic things like property rights all under extremely difficult conditions. If you really think the opposite your mental processes are slap in the middle of mediocre. The times for Boer / Brit bickering iare gone. That is the only possible reason for your anti DA post. A fracturedc ountry plays right into the ANC’s hands As do stood articles like this
Rubbish!
SA has been destroyed (burnt) by the ANC! The ANC has been burning SA for 30 years so they can rule over the ashes!
‘With our matches and necklaces we will liberate this country!’ (ANC Winnie Mandela).
Many Africans were prepared to vote for the DA until the Israel and Palestine issue entered the fray. The leader of the DA went to Ukraine to simpathise with white and blued eyed Ukranian women and children, he even took photos and shed a tear, months later Palestinian children faced the same fate as those white Ukranian children and the DA and its leader only complained about hostages Hamas were holding and nothing about Palestinian women and children because they were not white. We all know what whites are all about, we have the experience of apartheid to prove it, they will never change.
That is utter nonsense. Neither the Ukraine invasion nor Hamas/Israel war will make a single jot of difference to the vote.
Did you listen to Biden today on his diatribe about growing anti-semitism … when a growing number (though still in the minority compared to zionists) of Jews are joining the anti-genocide protests, as they (students especially) did in their objection to the Vietnam war earlier , & our apartheid state 3 decades ago ? To think that when he beat the outright fascist and misogynist Trump in their last election … I thought (mistakenly) it was good thing ! White supremacist attitudes and American hubris are a deadly combination. Incidentally America and its proxy Israel, were the last two countries which desperately hoped that democracy (with all it flaws) would not come here. No wonder Madiba after being elected the president of democratic SA … on his first head of state visit to the US , was still on their ‘terrorist’ list ! LOL . Today it is “hamas” (not just its military wing) which is on that ‘terrorist’ demonisation chopping block ! About ‘hostages’ .. what about the thousands of Palestinian ‘hostages’ in Israeli jails .. for more than five decades ? Have you noted how the ‘mainstream media’ (which has studiously been & even now continue to be a mouthpiece of zionist propaganda) do not use the UN approved terminology of “occupied territory” anymore ? Just a short while ago a presenter on BBC referred to the ‘forced displacement’ of civilians (already displaced earlier !) in Rafa … for the IDF to continue their genocide, as a “moving” of people ! for LOL !
I am sure, this latest tone deaf ad, is a result of some disturbing internal polling…falling way short of what they projecting. In any event…we not a nation , but a collection of peoples, trying to truly find each other and forge a nation. Use of national symbols, for cheap politicking – suppose can not expect anything different from politicians…anything for another vote.
Is that all the dirt you could find about the DA?
The DA must breakaway from international campaigning strategies, people want Land and money, radical parties know this hence the high supporters just for that promise, unfortunately the DA has the ability to solve the land issue in a responsible way, the DA will never be short of sponsors for the compensation of expropriated land.
Don’t they want jobs?
Everything
Ironically, I’ve never seen a South African flag at an ANC rally.
You have hit the nail on the head. I am sick and tired of the manufactured outrage. Want to see how much respect the ANC has for our flag? Drive past your local police station and see the dirty tattered flag they hoist.
Guyz you are too harsh on the DA. DA is getting always criticism and backlash you know, sometimes unnecessarily so. I am black boy, but you can call me cosmic boy, universal soldier. Please I beg you give a leg up to DA, Zille was a great leader during her time, I used to listen to her speak on SABC or ETV, and what she said was so intelligent, so poignant. I thought one day she could be president, but she tweeted about Singapore, and you guyz cancelled her. Please we are a rainbow nation, as a cosmic soldier or universal boy, I pray that you do that campaign stuff for DA, ANC is getting it with SABC, I don’t watch SABC anymore, I watch you tube and showmax, and I was watching the Markus Jooste documentary on showmax, and things like that. I just want for DA to get fanatics, like EFF. I could have been a DA hooligan and push DA using that street fighters mentality. I am prepared to push DA agenda, all I need is something like money and stuff, so that I can fighters for you, ideological nut jobs, guyz who would get gangster and stuff. I m not gangster, I have a potential to be gangster, only for DA, and only as a dedication to Zille for she has not received recognition for her contribution to SA democracy. Thank you
Sounds like the DA has its fanatics like the EFF….. You go James….
Under Zille and her uneducated lap dog Johnny the DA has lost ground. At a time when the ANC is an utter failure the DA hasnt been able to grow its support. That is truly pathetic.
If we ever get away from the ANC it wont be because of the DA…
Sadly, many like yourself simply do not appreciate how hard it is to run an honest party in a criminally run state, where whatever one does honestly for the greater good of all is met with simple diversionary and destructive cries of elitism and racism.
However, switch your focus to the real important measures:
1. Rule of law
2. Service delivery
And you will quickly appreciate how much better the DA is than any other party offering in South Africa.
To not vote DA is to make a huge mistake – for yourself, your family, your friends, and the rest of us South African.
Well said Fanie
Ever heard of tough love Fanie? The DA must see their worth and act accordingly, they will be held responsible for burning of the country which will not be easy to repair like the flag.
That is nuts, how about the real people burning ZA to the ground
Spot on, 100% on the mark. DA seem blinded by this glaring facing them. ANC is in disarray, of it own doing
” something like money and stuff ” tells you everything you need to know about the ‘character’ (apologies Martin Luther King), let alone the ‘mindset’ of one like James ! I am sure if the MK or EFF or even Gayton offered him such ‘stuff’ … he would be there in less than a flash also !
1 week into this month and people haven’t realized yet, “The Game Has Begun” Let’s see how many negative thoughts cross these lovely decorated pages @ DM 😉
There’s been an outbreak of foot-AND-mouth disease in the Humansdorp area.
There has been a general leaning of the DA narrative that borders on foot-IN-mouth on various serious local and international issues. This is a classic foot-IN-mouth affliction on display, and I must wonder if they didn’t hit the Kouga District on their campaign trail…
Yeah, it sems that each party has its own theme. That being said, I prefer DA’s foot-in-mouth theme than ANC/EFF hand-in-my-pocket theme….
Who is Ferial Haffajee?
I doubt that she advised the burning of the flag Andrew, a campaign which you end up defending before it bears fruit is not a worthy campaign.
Back to your question Ferial is journalist whose job is to give us news, the news we like or loathe to hear.
Nope. ‘News’ would be that the DA has ‘put out a new ad’.
‘Bias’ would be getting all fakely upset about anything the DA puts out that might actually be true. She hates them. No getting away from it.
Ferial is the Deputy Editor of Daily Maverick, and one of the top journalists in this country. Which begs the question: Who the heck are you
Spot on Coen!
Hahahahaha
Hahaha!
An ANC aligned DM journalist……even dresses at times in ANC regalia…
Kenneth?
Coen?
Andrew?
Ferial’s lapdogs
Ben you are out of line Hahahaha!
What a negative way to attract votes. It just doesn’t make mutch sense.
I agree. Campaign on the positive things that the DA will bring and there are many. I hope this ad doesn’t direct too much attention towards an ANC/EFF/MK alliance as a possible option. Some people might think that the flames will burn all their problems away?
The party has a responsibility beyond winning elections. As the official opposition, it is a critical agent of social cohesion or, more simply, keeping us together when so much could rent us asunder.
It’s unusual for DM to impute this kind of moral guardian aspect to the DA. And it’s interesting that DM does so now. When they need to trash the DA’s campaign ad. Just sayin’.
This is swart gevaar on steriods. Its okay when the DA enters into a coalition with other black parties like EFF but an all black party coalition is not
Oh look, you’ve created your own narrative! What you’re saying is the DA is not against a coalition of utterly corrupt parties (ANC/EFF), but simply against two black parties joining up. That’s neat, but also BS.
Shame, triggered by an animation
It is thieving cadre gevaar, not swart.
Do you know what the swart gevaar is? Please go to the apartheid museum, where you will see, factually and historically, the swart gevaar had nothing to do with race, but was a phrase coined against our black populations love of communism and socialism. The ANC communist manifesto is what kicked off Apartheid. Now you know.
Fine seeth. Then go vote DA because even though I’m no member, they are the best option for TRYING to save our country.
Agree
And yet they couldn’t save it from apartheid, how odd.
“And yet they couldn’t save it from apartheid, how odd.”
Huh? The DA has literally nothing to do with apartheid.
They were one of the white parties in apartheid parliament supporting the system.
The DA only came into being after Apartheid. They were previously the PFP and before that the progressive party. They were the lone voice in government fighting against apartheid since 1959.
Check your facts before you post Vic.
“They (DA)were one of the white parties in apartheid parliament supporting the system.”
Umm actually no, it’s very much the opposite. Please do some research before making such accusations:
From wiki:
“The DA traces its roots to the founding of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party in 1959, with many mergers and name changes between that time and the present.”
Nonsense! The DA did not exist during apartheid.
Gormless and clueless
SA politics is as infantile and shallow as Trump’s half of America, so this flag-burning symbolism is way too complex and ill-conceived. The message needs to be as dumbed-down as a Trump rally (the ANC and EFF are good at this). The instant blow-back to the DA’s ad is proof if you needed it.
But it certainly gets people’s attention.
I’m afraid that SA politics is very similar to most countries that have actual elections, not just Trump’s half of the USA. And the swivel-eyed monsters are even more prevalent when times are tough – have a look at the number of loose cannon authoritarians running countries out there.
Love it
Really?
“The flag is a beautiful symbol of what *joins us* when *so much divides us*.”
*Joins us* = BEE/AA/JvR’s/WMC/…..etc etc etc and then you state exactly *when so much divides us*
Last time I checked up on “our” flag, there are very CLEARLY SEPARATIONS OF COLOUR…..no “blending/feathering”of any colours that I can see.
Username checks out.
hahahaha
Second funniest thing I read all day, first being that Jabulani Khumalo has now approached the IEC asking for Jacob Zuma to be removed as the face of the party and from its list of parliamentary candidates.
Perhaps the DA is right, might be time for a new flag. Maybe the addition of a an emblem of a bunch of bananas in the middle of it would suffice.
This is just dumb.. context is everything. Imagine this ad pops up in a bar somewhere with the sound off.
The great irony will be that some people will be more upset about about an animation of a burning flag than 25 years of the ANC burning down the countries economy and future.
Precisely
Agree. The ANC and their twitterati are upset about being called out, not about the flag.
Spot on!
and burning our Eskom, education, postal services, water systems, roads, hospital (how many of them? ?) etc. That is exactly what you queezy readers can not see and what the DA can see and SA who want to have a country in which we can live , want to fix
Absolutely. I reckon if the EFF had released this ad of how the ANC has burned the country, little would have been said, beyond that maybe Julius was out of line, tut tut, just a passionate revolutionary, blah blah, move on. Which is exactly the point: the DA does not enjoy that level of acceptance amongst the majority of voters and its campaign ‘gurus’ are simply too thick to understand this. A great irony for a party whose supporters routinely label everyone else as thick!
I am not convinced that many of the current voters were really as incensed or insulted as some make it out to be. Would be interesting if there would be a neutral poll showing this advert to your average voter and find out if they really are that angry about it.
Yes, I agree, the DA has to be extra careful what they say, opinionistas such as these make it clear that many are just waiting to pounce and fabricate outrage when it comes to the DA. And kowtowing to every storm in a teacup is not a solution either.
I really don’t think advertising when it comes to elections is that effective. Most people in South Africa who vote are too busy struggling from day to day to make ends meet. I think the greater voting population already have made up their minds which party they are going to vote for for the same very broad range of reasons they made a voting choice the last time. The DA is still the party I will vote for even though they do sometimes put their foot in it from a marketing perspective. Their track record is far more important to me than an ad or a billboard. Likewise those that choose other parties would be more likely to be influenced by other factors rather than ads or billboards. I am more concerned about how quickly the respective parties will get the billboards down after the election. The DA is normally the quickest. The ANC and EFF don’t even bother to take theirs down even though there are laws to regulate this.
Not exactly a balanced report, there. Now for the more important question: why this excitement over a flag of all things? I mean, seriously, people don’t care enough to use their brains and get shot of the anc, so do you really expect anyone to consider your outrage as credible? I reckon its a pretty accurate piece of imagery.
Agreed
I can’t believe all the negative comments about the DA. I thought the ad was great – short and to the point. Whereas your article, Ferial, to me was biased and a waste of time. And only serves to cause more division. If we bring out the flag and smile only when Bafana Bafana improves their score and the Springboks win the WRC – I don’t know what you mean by an election successfully concluded – then we’re for sure in a sorry state as a nation. We should be proud of our country as a whole. Have leaders we can be proud of, who do the right thing for the country, not just for themselves. Proud that we’re this diverse bunch of people that get along and enjoy and respect each other. Where do you get the idea that the DA is responsible for bringing everyone together? Is that the job of an opposition party? This just makes me not want to read your newspaper any more.
The ad is a short and stark, literal representation of what is happening in SA – the ad itself being the least of our worries.
Nandos
Plenty of tail- gunners out there!
The DA has an innate ability to hand their narrative over to their opposition. Time to wake up Mr Steenhuizen!
It’s a disastrous ad…disrespectful ! The DA needs to stop using Afriforums PR agency!
Shame, triggered by an animation
Pretty easy to weigh up whether the ad is a success: will anyone who sees this ad who has not voted DA before, now choose to vote DA on the basis of the burning flag ad?
If not, it’s a failure, or at least an unnecessary distraction.
Objectively the DA should be 100% focused on growing its support ahead of the 29th. Does this ad achieve that goal?
A comment on the DA’s first ad campaign using the term “Rescue South Africa” – translated into “Red Suid Afrika”.
Anyone who cannot praat die taal will read the afrikaans version as the DA is communist- as in Red party. I think it was not a well thought out ad – these first impressions last and again, as someone pointed out – play the burning flag ad in a bar or shabeen – with the sound off and English text the impression is
that the Red Suid Afrika DA want to burn SA to the ground.
Of course if the DA’s intention is to win votes away from the FF+ instead of the ANC, these ads are absolutely spot on. But I would hope our main opposition party at least has some desire or ambition to win an election at some point.
The clue is in the words Suid Afrika. That clearly praats die taal, as you say. Then red is rescue and not rooi.
People who go to bars and shebeens are more prone to concern themselves about what they are pouring down their throats and getting that fuzzy feeling in their heads than worrying about ads. True story.
I like it. It conveys a strong message.
Whilst I think that the ad is insensitive the DA should really do their homework properly and if they had done so the ad probably wouldn’t have been flighted.
Given that the decision was to do so would it not have been better to have been upside down while it was burning as flying a country’s flag upside down is an internationally recognised emergency signal or signal of distress?
I find it simply amazing how people completely flatline on the disgusting criminality that is the ANC and the EFF but get worked up when presented with a stark image representing reality: the ANC and the EFF are destroying our entire country for everyone in it in a real and tangible way. This message, as strong as it is, is still a massive understatement of she scale of this destruction. Face reality people of South Africa. Own the fact that to vote for the ANC, EFF or MK means YOU are destroying our country, for yourself also. It is time to wake up my South African brothers. Vote for better. Vote DA.
And what about the actual burning of everything in 2021 in Durban? This is what this flag displays. Look what will happen under ANC/EFF, we have already seen it
I listened to Dr Schreiber yesterday afternoon giving context to the ad. I like him.
He was saying that the ad was part of a series of 4 and needed to be considered in context.
The thing is that hardly any people are going to be motivated to watch all four adds to try understand the nuance of DA messaging.
The argument that it got lots of attention and people talking is all well and good but if it doesn’t get you more votes then it fails at the very first hurdle.
The idea or notion that the best way of winning people over is through fear and division is regressive.
When our future is dependent upon us being able to find common ground and working together all this advertisement is going to do is cause further polarization.
I am quite literally flabbergasted at how tone deaf DA leadership is
Most probably deaf and blind about what the ANC/ EFF is doing and will be doing to this country. Quick to say negative things about the DA , just to have your voice heard
That’s an absurd leap of logic. Because someone thinks the DA isn’t doing a good job with their election ads, you automatically assume that same person endorses the ANC or EFF? What a bafflingly binary world view.
Even staunch DA supporters should at this point ask the party some pointed questions. For example:
1 Are they in the elections to win it for the DA or to spoil it for the ANC? Those are two different things.
2 Does the DA have any ambition to become a national ruling party, or become part of a national ruling coalition? If so, what purpose does the ad serve to broaden their support base?
3 Does the DA expect every South African to follow its policy nuances, ins-and-outs of its election posters, or multi-part video ad series in minute detail? Why? How does the party presume to claim so much of our time and attention?
4 Does anyone in their campaign strategy team remember why people ACTUALLY vote DA? It’s not because of sensation. It’s because they are BY FAR the best at actually running things, at delivering services, at spending our tax money wisely and responsibly, at doing the hard but sometimes boring work of making sure we have functioning public services. Why not focus on that? After decades of ruinous neglect and outright theft by the ANC and its associates, surely people are more interested in getting water in their taps, power in their plugs, and jobs in their towns?
Objectively this is a poor misstep by a party that should know better.
Exactly 100% spot on
Look, one cannot in one second tell the electorate they are “stupid”, and the next second produce a fear-mongering ad and then try to spin it as “nuanced DA messaging”.
We know the DA thinks 52% of the voters are stupid – we mos read the DM, and now they expect the same “stupid” voters to understand “nuance”.
Okay, say that we are dom, but hell, we are not that dom!
We see you, DA. ‘n luiperd kannie spots changie.
Well, you regularly prove you’re in that 52%
Symbolism maybe – but the majority will simply see it as anti-South African and ‘white’ nostalgia. Whom ever does strategic thing for the DA is missing in action and our fragile mentality. A shot in the foot for sure!
There can be no doubt that an ANC-EFF-MK alliance will be the end of the country as we know it. But I would prefer the DA to campaign towards what they’ll DO when they govern nationally. Like not get rid of the Grant and the Minimum Wage, for example. These are issues that affect black citizens deeply. Campaign positively, not by fear-mongering.
Like the ANC telling people they will lose their grant and minimum wage if they vote for other parties? Thanks Carsten. Got it.
One thing I definitely agree with them about is the discourse on X, or twitter or whatever that musky smelling platform is called nowadays.
I think a lot responding on this collumn is also bots, and perhaps sympathetic to the DA but want to sound intelligent and “neutral” and rather go ahead tainting the DA in darkness, instead of thinking what they are doing and actually should be doing. How dumb can you be . Men who want to measure themselves against other words
Haha. The commentators here are waaaaay too dumb to be bots. A bit like the DA most of the time.
Just snorted coffee on my keyboard. Any tips for cleaning it?
Utter tripe, Musk did a lot to rid Twitter of millions of bots, was his main complaint why it’s $44 billion price was not justified. Free speech too much for you? It’s not for the faint-hearted..
Let’s be frank, it is only because the ANC is utterly corrupt and destructive that the DA is even in the picture.
In any other, normal political environment, they’d be a no-hoper party with <5% of the vote.
Zille has permanent foot-in-mouth disease and Steenhuizen has a matric…both are long last their sell-by date.
What ARE THE DA POLICIES? Anyone know? BTW, "SAVE SA" is not a policy.
This ad is indicative of their lack of constructive ideas to LEAD this Country. Maimane is correct, it's "SWART GEVAAR" politics on steroids (sad but true).
“What ARE THE DA POLICIES? Anyone know?”
For starters, responsible use of taxes, active systems in place against corruption, upholding rule of law, helping the poorest with high social expenditure and infrastructure (if you would bother to look at money spent in Cape Town as an example), energy and water security, to name but a few. And the fun part is that in DA administered places most of these are already miles ahead of any other party in this country. It’s not just lip service but is actually happening where the DA has enough control and is not dictated by national (ANC) policy. Many of the wards that the DA have lost (for reasons that are mostly out of the DAs hands) are suddenly facing more corruption, budgets are freely looted within a year or two of the DA losing power.
This ad has nothing to do with “swart gevaar”, unless you are saying that EFF ANC and MK are purely black parties that only cater for their own race (who would be the racist parties then if that were true?). DA is by far the most diverse party in SA at this point (pls go check the make up of members and compare them fir each party)
The DA has issues, no question, but we have a saying in German, let’s stay on the carpet and stick to the facts.
It is debatable whether the imagery of a burning flag was a good move especially in this country, but that SA will suffer greatly under a EFF MK ANC coalition, based on 25 years of failure, threats of violence, scores of corruption cases, is pretty much a given.
Spot on on your opening remark, DA owes its existence to the ANC. I went through the DA manifesto and noted the number of times thst the name ANC pops up. Only on the leader’s forword, the ANC name feature 13 times. To your questions about DA problem, that is one of the problems.
Hey! Where is Helen? Where is she? Under a rock?? Still, we shouldn’t complain because she can do less damage when she’s out of sight. This DA and its optics management – well, I say management when I really mean total lack thereof. Muppets. Good people, mostly, led by fools.
I don’t think that this ad will attract many voters, and quite possibly will put off quite a few. It would be far more effective to focus on the positive aspects of the DA’s platform, and how it offers a positive future for all.
I certainly was put off.
Even if you don’t like the burning flag visual if you listen to what the ad says it’s absolutely true. Focus on that instead.
That’s exactly the problem, only the burning flag attracts attention. Nobody listens any more. Burning a national flag is revolting and offensive also when you stitch it together later. It would have been far better to use another example to vilify the ANC and the EFF….there must be hundreds.
I’m concerned about likely coalitions and the future of this country. But the question the DA should be asking itself is to what extent is this ad attracting voters? It’s no use chastising people for not liking their swart gevaar style advert. So either the DA is just clueless or maybe it just isn’t interested in securing the black vote. I mean how bad do you have to be to lose to a party that gave us aids denialism, load-shedding, oil rotation, a fire-pool, the collapse of SAA, and so on and so forth.
What is more important, the actual burning (to the ground) of a nation or just the symbolic (electronic) version of its flag? You. would be mad to say the latter. So, the ad helps shine the bright light of truth of the ACTUAL BURNING of SA by the ANC!!
Good advert. Let’s hope those South Africans that can cognate how the ANC has destroyed SA can respond in the right way and help vote the ANC out.
Good advert – I agree. Not everybody will be deliberately dumb enough to ignore the context and the symbolism of the flag burning. Not to mention the concluding redisplay of the whole flag with its message for salvation and rescue of SA.
Good powerful message. The DA hit a nerve – well done!
The DA are so out of touch with the environment they are campaigning in , continue to bathe in hubris and dance in their echo chamber . Whoever is their campaign manager / strategist has smoked way too much fynbos. At the rate they are shooting themselves in the foot the MPC should hoof them out , and get Gayton back as at least all of them have clear and aligned policies and campaign on their merits vs the DA ‘ telling teacher ‘ as nauseam how bad all other parties are and how great the WC is . They should try running a mainly rural province and see how they fare . I have defected to Action SA.
O my word, Gayton an ex-con, what have you been smoking, Gaytons socks?
You were doing really well up to the fynbos bit.
People miss the point. The DA struggles with an image issue as is. This is tone deaf and ill-timed. Unfortunately they don’t have a lot of room to make mistakes.
Another woke, feral huff and puff against the Democratic Alliance. Let’s raise the broken (by the anc) flag after 29 May…
Yes. She is starting to show her true colours. It is the same when she writes about the Middle East crisis. I’ve always had the utmost respect for her, but it appears her racist tendencies are emerging through her recent articles.
Why were you happy to have missed the DA occasion of their young leaders Feral. Why do you write this negative article about the DA and not about what you found on your campaign trail with the EFF
The reaction of many is ridiculous if they cannot see the destruction that is going on within this country then they need a huge wake up call. Right now being proud of South Africa and its flag is incredibly difficult when one sees how the anc are running us into the ground, they dont get the message as to why big businesses are moving out either. Until this country is fixed the flag will keep burning until there is nothing left.
Spot on
You’re all discussing the ad. There is no such thing as bad publicity. Reading through all these comments, I see both sides of the story (negative vs positive) from a white perspective . On Stephen Grootes radio program this morning then viewpoints expressed by black callers was the same, with possibly more of them in favour of the ad than against it. What does this say about their standpoint regarding the ANC and EFF? The MK doesn’t matter as it is disintegrating before our eyes. The DA and Multi Party Charter is our only hope and they have the credentials to prove it. Stop knocking them.
Flag burning is incomparably better than watching tragedies being exploited by the morally corrupt ANcee
All the hot air about the ad …..What comment would have been solicited if the flag had been burnt in a skirmish or attack ?? Maybe the idea as a marketing tool was ill advised but it got its message out . The inflammatory rhetoric from those opposed to the DA should also solicit similar comment … surely ?? At this point in the build up to the 29th … focussing on garnering as many votes as possible should be the focus … politics is a dirty and brutal game . Its players are , in the main , not all trustworthy . So fighting whether an ad was to our taste or not deflects the effort. Stop it ….. get the eye back on the ball !! The masses want change ….. this is not the time for squabbling .
All the hot air about the ad …..What comment would have been solicited if the flag had been burnt in a skirmish or attack ?? Maybe the idea as a marketing tool was ill advised but it got its message out . The inflammatory rhetoric from those opposed to the DA should also solicit similar comment … surely ?? At this point in the build up to the 29th … focussing on garnering as many votes as possible should be the focus … politics is a dirty and brutal game . Its players are , in the main , not all trustworthy . So fighting whether an ad was to our taste or not deflects the effort. Stop it ….. get the eye back on the ball !! The masses want change ….. this is not the time for squabbling .
Introspection should be introspective, and open-minded, not just waiting and practicing the rhetoric you’re about to spew. What this interview tells me, at least, is that if the DA walked into a bar and asked you what you drinking sweetheart, I’d like to buy you a drink… it would respond to any answer with – “No – what you should and actually need to drink is this.” Then proceed to buy you that drink and get miffed if you don’t find the perfect moments to tell everyone in the bar how much better the drink they chose for you is. This ad is actually worse than the last one where there were mute older black folks standing around while John Steenhuysen extolled the DA virtues. *Sigh*
Right now I could do with a drink.
Burning a flag is free expression, according to courts in the United States.
In most of the rest of the world it is a criminal offence.
You will find the morality of flag burning to be extremely subjective, as we can see when looking at both Jewish and Palestinians burning each other flags with positive glee, Brexitets burning EU flages, the list goes on. And these are real flags not photoshopped animations like the DAs ad. I am not so sure if an animation of a burning flag is illegal, which is very different than burning an actual flag. And that definitely doesn’t include the restoration of a burned flag in end.
I am pretty sure there would be no big brouhaha if the old South African flag would have been torched given its past. Based on pictures it seems the EFF does that kind of thing quite alot.
Google “South Africa burning flag” and you will find images of free pics by photo stock companies, nothing political about that.
Of course we need to see it in context of this country, but this seems to be a bit of an overreaction, and accusations of swart gevaar are simply untrue, while a coalition between the ANC, MK and EFF justifiably is cause for concern, that part at least really is beyond debate.
Did you watch the ad or are you just climbing on the bandwagon – methinks the latter
If you watched the ad and all you saw was the burning of a flag then you have missed the point by a long way. You should revisit the ad carefully and for meaning
I would think that people would understand what the DA is trying to say, that the ANC will burn the country to the ground to keep their power. Burning the flag says exactly that, the ANC, EFF and MK will practice sourced earth principle to
maintain power.
It certainly helped to show the true colours of the commentators
The DA overstepped the mark of decency. Burning the flag, and publishing it in adverts is the lowest form of pretending they will save South Africa. What poor leadership they have!
Hahaha, triggered by a little cartoon
Haha is about as profound as your comments get.
Shame John, triggered again?
The symbolism seems to have escaped most people, with a lot of commentary about flag burning but almost none about flag restoration – speaks to the average mindset a bit, doesn’t it?
Exactly.
Which is precisely what makes it a bad advert. They have made people focus on the negativity of flag burning. So many examples of ANC failures might have been used. It illustrates how the DA cannot see beyond its echo chamber. Unbelievable! Hello 15%
Good final comment….Ferial, I recollect that photo of you years back dressed in ANC colours at some event…..says then, and now, whom you support.
The DA is too smart for its own good. Burning the flag is opening the door for someone to say: “You see, they do want to bring back apartheid and with it the old flag”.
The DA needs to understand who and what the larger constituency is in South Africa and talk to them in unambiguous and easily understood terms about what the DA can really offer. They are out of touch.
And instead of insulting the newer startups by calling them “popcorn parties” John Steenhuisen should rather be asking himself why his and Zille’s DA could not have made itself a welcoming home for the Maimane’s, Mashaba’s and Zibi’s of South Africa.
Not only the Maimane’s, Zibi’s et al… ALL of us who have nothing to hope for in the ANC! There’s zero intent to gain black voters. Zero.
I think that the DM and others are missing the point in their long withdrawal from their past unwavering loyalty to the ANC and their realization that they have kept South Africa on the pyre of the morally crumbling cANCer which has brough us to the brink. Anyone with half a brain and only one functional eyeball has seen that the ANC has literally incinerated OUR country and the flag symbolism is very appropriate. The liberal press (DM and Business Day) has been tepid in its condemnation of the ANC and it’s systematic trashing (or burning if preferable) of OUR constitution. The ANC government has methodically ignored huge parts of the constitution (from seeing that justice is carried out expeditiously on the miscreants which the Zondo Commission demonstrated as corrupt elected politicians and ANC deployed cadres to the refusal to supply clean water and quality education to South African citizens…..this list is really endless) which has materially affected and hurt more people that a symbolic burning of our flag has ever done. People need a reality check here. South Africa is burning and it is for real. Just walk down the street and smell the raw sewerage and watch you don’t fall down a sink hole which has been there for 4 years!! South Africa needs a wakeup call and this add makes this clear. It took the burning of the Stars and Stripes to galvanize the Americans to get out of Viet Nam.
I recall some years back when Ferial and another female journalist, now deceased, were at an ANC rally dressed in ANC regalia….Nothing has changed it seems wither.
It would be interesting to find out if a more positive (‘Hope’-like) campaign could get more votes for the DA, or if this fear-mongering (and honestly irritating) approach truly persuades potential supporters to just go with it.
Not the first time that Ferial’s slip is hanging way below her dress. Or is that too metaphorical? If people can’t see the stark representation of the burning flag for the symbolism of the spiraling destruction of our beautiful country – and the potentially worse scenario facing us, it’s because this ad does not resonate with their already prejudiced attitude to the DA. The DA is held to scrutiny at every little turn. I suspect that some DM journalists as well a host of others want to “balance” criticism of the identity politics, race-based parties like the EFF and MK and the ANC, with criticism of the DA- no matter how shallow and plain silly the reason for the tarnishing of the DA may be. It seems like a desperate latching on to anything and everything, no matter how inconsequential, to find something negative about the DA to make it seem like ‘balanced’ journalism. Well, it’s not. It’s an embarrassingly unsophisticated excuse for the ‘investigative, independent’ journalism that we pay to sustain in the DM. Ferial really needs to rein herself in and take a good hard look at her journalistic practice. Basing conclusions on Twitter bots? Really, Ferial? The fact that Ferial missed the DA press conference speaks miles about where her priorities -and preferences-lie. The excuse she offers is embarrassingly thin. While we’re at it, the present tense of the past participle ‘rent’ is ‘rend’.
What an uproar this has caused… however..it’s created some serious debate about the DA’s views. However…
I must say that I for one am sick to death of the Red Jelly Totsi singing ” Kill the Boer” shoved in our face ad nauseam…hows that fora manifesto statement .
Great effort to be on the front page DA.
It is unfortunately a reflection of the current mismanagement of the country and any denial of that state is like sticking your head in the sand. They should have a flag burn for every bribe accepted, and every inappropriate budget allocation. The fact that the DA put it into an ad just brings it to light. Any anger over the ad is a case of hating the messenger.
Pointing other people’s mistakes does not seem you a good person, the DA must woo voters and stop being an opposition it’s not a good job description, they will do better leading the country.
And this is THE STORY OF THE DAY….says the Deputy Editor of the DM and ANC supporter….. I wonder if this will be published by DM
When I first saw this news item I assumed the DA had actually burned a flag to get their message over. They hadn’t, and this is a storm in a teacup.
As much as i am not happy with the DA’s inability, over a very long period, to craft a message that best resonates with majority of South Africans, I certainly don’t see anything wrong with this ad. The ad somply illustrates what they are trying to put out to the voter. I think we are being too sensitive over nothing really
Wow, so many kneejerk comments on this thread! I wonder if any of those trashing the DA even bothered to view the ad! Getting your manties in a knot over a digital image of a burning piece of paper with the flag superimposed on it and you all get so worked up! Heaven forbid they burn an ACTUAL flag.
No wonder SA is doomed
It’s a natural reaction Ben but not one the DA might have hoped for, if I was their campaign manager I will be back in the drawing board yesterday already.
Careful Ferial, your bias is showing. Everyone is entitled to their political opinion, however stupid some may be, but then own it when you attack a party you dislike. I hold no candle for Steenhuizen, and am sad that Zille’s arrogance is more evident than her intelligence – which is brilliant, but there is no doubt that (in my mind) that the DA is the only hope for our country’s recovery. Viva our flag, viva and pray the DA can save it. Ferial, you undermine your calling and your writing, which is a pity
“If you do not like the message, kill the messenger” – I feel the reactions to this ad have that connotation….
Although I agree with the sentiment espoused in the AD, burning the flag was not on – a better option in my opinion would have been to use a map of the country burning!!!
As for the brains behind that DA ad – the über advisor to the powers that be .. clearly the pope’s nose of a featherless peacock.. shrill to boot. How he learnt to be a dullard in so many ways is beyond me, but now he shoots his own party in the foot 🤷🏻♂️🙈🤷🏻♂️
Is this really our most troubling issue? Its symbolic and the message is clear, to get offended by this is like complaining that someone used the word ‘shit” while sewerage is flowing thru your house and town.
Such a good analogy! Well done.
My understanding from political and social science research is that citizens respond more to positive than negative messages – that’s why Obama was so successful in his first campaign. It was about what we can do. The DA’s campaign is so negative – maybe they need to change to more positive messaging. 15 of the top 20 municipalities in the country are run by the DA etc etc
The state of South Africa and how the ruling party has brought us to this lamentable state of affairs is probably the reason for this “Shock Tactic” advert – It is hardly surprising that those individuals bent on destroying the DA election efforts will gleefully leap on this advert.
The fact is that an ANC/EFF/MK coalition would spell complete disaster for South Africa and a return to a pre-democratic rule of autocracy.
Be afraid, be very afraid.
I had occasion to listen to a caller phone Stephen Grootes on Thursday last week, in which he kept referring to “White boys.” He clearly had a sizeable chip on his shoulder.
No reaction from listeners to call him out on this.
If I had phoned in and started using the words “Black boys” I would have immediately been cited for being a white racist.
Strangely contradictory country we live in!
I’ve suffered directly from Apartheid atrocities, with the Detention without Trial process in the 80’s the principal one. Believe me I have a HUGE chip on my shoulder.
I’ve suffered directly from the ANC diminished moral compass – I gave up a R1,1m p.a. job because the resulting toxic environment from my whistleblowing broke my health.
You are welcome to call the chip on my shoulder ‘racialising’ my electoral evaluation but when you’ve gone through what I suffered, a trust issue is engrained when it comes to approaching White politicians. Apartheid would not have been enforced if they had raised resistance at the onset. Once the peaceful governance situation of South Africa as well as the resultant pariah status brought about by the sanctions programme became untenable, then the White voices sounded louder. Would it have happened had that not been the case?
You can argue that the DA is not a White party but when you dissect the demographic of its constituency as well as the face of its leadership, as well as the voices of the Black leaders who leave the DA, where does that leave you?
Riiiiggghhhttttttt
As for my ANC legacy
Giving up a job that earned me R1,1m p.a. to protect my health has also placed a HUGE chip on my shoulder. Being educated and experienced meant that not only was I saying “this was wrong”, I was also contextualising the wrongdoing as well as placing the empirical evidence on the table to support what I was saying. When you’re just a noisemaker, you get pushed into a corner and ignored. It’s when what you provide can be objectively assessed and audited that you must be pushed out. With the corrupt environment, that ensures the silence to envelop those activities.
I was also one of those who opposed the election of Zuma from the onset as I was confident (arrogant?) in my conviction that he was wrong for the ANC and by extension, the country. I left the ANC after the Polokwane Conference.
You do note that while you have a lot of educated Black voters that criticise the ANC etc. on public platforms, very few are DA trumpet-blowers. Do you ever ask why that is the question?
There are many of us, and we have kids and grandkids…
Thanks for your comments – they are really insightful and honest. I believe you have highlighted a key issue for the DA – how to attract more black voters. They need more inspiring leadership and focus on positive messaging. The reality is there are still trust issues between races, but these can be overcome. My question is who would you vote for if not the DA? Rise Mzansi, Action SA?
ActionSA, it’s just that Herman is more VW Beetle that Ferrari F40 when it comes to strategy & turnaround. But then again, he’s a businessman first before a politician, so some latitude. Anyway, we’ll see…
DM/author if you really honestly feel that this is such a big thing, then fine. BUT if you dont, and it’s just for click bait or stirring the pot (or perhaps worse motives). Then if/when SA eventually becomes a failed state, you need to look in the mirror and acknowledge the part you played.
Why didn’t they burn the ANC,EFF and MK flags instead of destroying our unique flag that’s Unite us?
Perfectly reasonable and very clever ad. I was not triggered nor did I look for a safe space in which to recover. I’m just amazed that Rebecca Davis did not get in first to slag off the DA. Feriel, another ANC apologist beat her to it.
Pity Ferial beat me to it
I think it is a brilliant advert, because that’s what will exactly happen to this country if the ANC, EFF and MK join, hopefully the voting public realise this.
Patently, given the adversarial response, many commentators are not versant with the intricacies of “allegory”!
You might be looking for snakes and don’t need to. This ad would not convince a voter to change their vote. You are well aware there are 2 kinds of good adverts and if voters are talking that is good. Voters believe and vote for liars and your article is far to technical for those who need a better government
But it will certainly remind DA favouring voters that it is imperative they get off their backsides on the 29th and back them to the hilt. No hanging back through laziness or other commitments – get out there and do your thing for the country!
Agreed.
Everyone seems very sentimental about the South African flag…but here’s a question for you: when last did you see the South African flag flying at an ANC rally? I’ve seen ANC, Cuban and Palestinian flags, but never a South African flag.
When you are trying to win votes, this is not clever. Why offend good folk who may vote for you ? I hope Rise Mzansi and Build One SA join the Multiparty Charter to help the DA get over the line. DA arrogance has finally sent me in another direction.
‘Arrogance’? What ‘arrogance’? Sounds like you were never going to vote for them anyway, if an ad like this makes you think that way. Assuming you don’t live in the Western Cape, maybe get off your backside and get down here and see what a fantastic job they are doing here against incredible odds, most of them thanks to the incompetence and corruption of the ANC in the country and particularly the Eastern Cape, before making any more really silly comments about ‘arrogance’.
If the purpose of the advertisement was to encourage someone sitting on the fence to vote DA, they will dismally fail. Undecided voters may find this ad offensive. So in other words, they are probably alienating undecided voters. It is very frustrating because the DA has proved that it can govern more effectively, but they shoot themselves in the foot with this kind of campaigning. (And with not having a more representative leadership.)
The arrogance of Zille’s party is astounding, and it seems her influence is pervasive.
“… the South African commentary class … ” Why, sir, do you believe you are better than the “chattering” (which is the correct terminology in this idiom) class? It is the “chattering class” that votes, and it is perhaps that you are unable to get beyond your small percentage achieved to date, the “chattering class” that keeps you in your place, which is the cause of your frustration.
It appears to be a clear agenda of the DA not to engage on X, right down to my local councillor. The DA prefers whatsapp groups they control, and immediately block any dissention. Very autocratic, and leaves the “chattering class” to ponder why you are unable to debate with us common garden variety voters.
Your arrogance shall not stop us from our given right to opinion. And many of us opine in very strong terms that this flag burning ad is your typical ham fisted approach with no ability to read the room.
And for those who defend the woeful DA, understand it is not a zero sum game. Because some folk despise the DA does not equate to blind loyalty to the ANC and their ilk. The DA are terrified, and rightly so. They have failed us as an opposition party through their arrogance. There is more choice for opposition now. And I salute the Daily Maverick for bringing to our attention, in an even handed manner, the manifestos of other parties.
Hahahahaha
Funny enough that the DA see this hilarious ad as a strategic content yet its demeaning the status of one of the Supreme symbols equaling the coat of arms and National key properties.
Fire is aligned with the devil and he’ll, this surely is a deliberate referral to black led parties as devils. Those of us who will always align the actions of DA with the apartheid past, surely this brings back the memories when we were called little devils by white supremacist police and Soldiers that were deployed full-time in our townships to suppress mass action and protests.
The DA have the audacity to bring these memories back while riding on the backs of many black people that are blindly following these flimsy explanations, sugar coating thrash and DA’s veiled racist tendencies
what absolute garbage
I literally ran out of space trying to respond to one of the most ludicrous comments I have read on these pages.
“Fire is aligned with the devil and he’ll (sic), this surely is a deliberate referral to black led parties as devils.”
Absolute BS to accuse the DA of this motivation. The rest of your comment is no better and really only shows your racial prejudice towards white people. Ughh!
I’ll have some of whatever you are drinking / smoking, Mashumi!
Thanks for the laugh – much needed in these grim times.
Quite an ‘in your face’ ad. I love our flag and am proud of it but it saddens me to know that it dies not represent unity, as we all hoped for. Why do the new parties like ActionSA, BOSA and others like them not form a coalition now with the DA and go into the elections as a united front right from the start?
It’s compelling, after quite a robust conversation with my partner this weekend, the story of Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The danger of a single story. We have become so polarized as a society that national unity can never be agreed upon, even when we have to agree that the country is on the verge of collapse, even then we must argue about how one is getting this point across.
Yes it is a thought-provoking advert, how else will such symbolism get entrenched in your mind unless you see it? The EFF equally suggested the same narrative, however they were showing exactly how the flag is burning, and yet seeing this expression in another eye is now problematic?
What are we mad at here? The fact that the DA is burning the flag? which is revived in the same video?
Before watching the video the stage was set, I was hell-bent on this being the nail in the DA’s election coffin, and after watching it I’m thinking what? is this even a worthy conversation?
Freedom of expression? If we are indeed within a democracy then why is this act not protected?
Ironically, if the video included someone assassinating the president, or the symbolism of a buffalo being attacked would have been taken with less hostility.
My closing submission, if it were a springbok, protea or blue crane being burnt instead would it still carry the same weight?
The symbolism of the advert will be way over the average South Africans understanding. The DA must stick to extremely simple to understand ads. Even the author of this article seems to have missed the point.
So, basically, it’s not really worth getting all worked up about, is it. Please tell that to the whingers above, who I must admit it’s been fun trying to wind up!
The ad has done it’s job.
Yes, if the DA is aiming for 15% of the vote, then the ad did its job. In 3 weeks we’ll know, right? Remember this conversation. The DA fired Maimane when the poll dropped from 26 to 24 %. Watching this space to see if they drop Johnny.
interesting how some will go ballistic over a flag yet were numb on necklacings!
Diversion or off ramp Gabriel?
A simple, sensible ad talking about the million odd jobs lost under CR, the demise of the railways & Eskom and what that means to the ordinary South African… the depreciated Rand and how that affects the ordinary workers ( cost of taxi fares, chicken, etc). There’s so much to work with iro talking to ordinary citizens, surely the DA could do better from a canvassing perspective
Another foot in mouth moment for the DA. They really don’t understand two things: optics, and how easy it is to manipulate outrage on the flimsiest of pretexts. I can see what they made the ad, and I can see the upside of it being restored after being burned by the Doomsday coalition, but I can also see how easy it is for anti-DA people and parties to stir outrage at it. Let’s face it, the DA has engaged in drip-torture stupidity for a while now, whether saying colonialism wasn’t all bad, or referring to small parties as popcorn parties, or the constant defections of credible black leaders to other parties, and quite a few more stupid public pronouncements, the DA simply ignores what they represent to many South Africans (true or not): white privilege and entrenching economic apartheid. Their communications team is so out of touch with reality that it should be fired en masse.
I thought the ad was quite effective. I didn’t see it as the desecration of our flag, but rather the depiction of a country going up in flames. I guess it depends on one’s own interpretation and in this instance, I see the flag as symbolising our country?
This is such manufactured drama.
You owe us a little more than this.
If this ad upsets you,GOOD! It’s time you woke up and saw the damage the ANC has done to this country. If things were going well, this ad would not be needed.
No matter all the huffing and puffing I think this was an ill considered ad, I myself only saw the part with the actual flag burning and this is what I think a majority of our electorate will see too. AI is with us and I think for the DA to not have considered that is not only short sighted but just plain stupid. In my opinion any publicity is “good” publicity is rubbish. If this backfires on the WC where we have intelligent people in charge, then the DA is finished. The people that matter are not reading this, no matter Ferial’s biased views – they will have no effect on the vast majority of voters.
Well things are certainly hotting up (no pun intended) – I throw this in the melting pot of discussion – “Is it not time that Government was driven from the bottom (community) upwards as opposed to the current Top Down methodology?” – I offer that the solutions to community issues lie within the community itself and not in the hands of politicians – “for the community and by the community” – depoliticise the concept of Government and communitise it – Consider the example of Orania (look past culture and race) – Orania works primarily because they operate as a community with shared goals for their future – now forsee a country made up of many such like communities (common thinking devoid of race, etc) forming a united purpose and you may have something that is workable – Politics is the problem, not the solution – And if you think SA is unique, yes we are, but cast your vision further abroad and you will see many similar situations manifesting around the world – But the most important message for May 29 is – “You have a duty to vote for the future, it is not a right, it is a duty” – God Bless All.
Well things are certainly hotting up (no pun intended) – I throw this in the melting pot of discussion – “Is it not time that Government was driven from the bottom (community) upwards as opposed to the current Top Down methodology?” – I offer that the solutions to community issues lie within the community itself and not in the hands of politicians – “for the community and by the community” – depoliticise the concept of Government and communitise it – Consider the example of Orania (look past culture and race) – Orania works primarily because they operate as a community with shared goals for their future – now forsee a country made up of many such like communities (common thinking devoid of race, etc) forming a united purpose and you may have something that is workable – Politics is the problem, not the solution – And if you think SA is unique, yes we are, but cast your vision further abroad and you will see many similar situations manifesting around the world – But the most important message for May 29 is – “You have a duty to vote for the future, it is not a right, it is a duty” – God Bless All.
The not so creative geniuses at the DA PR office thought, let’s be provocative. Clearly our self righteousness and aloofness hasn’t worked. Never mind it’s too late in the game to anger the undecideds. No time to spin, backtrack, get forgiven. The tone mimicked precisely by the staunch supporters.
Again being right is not enough when wanting to win hearts & minds. You can’t insult the flag of YOUR country and its people into submission. Though I get the feeling that the DA has no intention of winning hearts, minds, & votes it seems. Its like one of those people who believe themselves to be the wisest and so think learning social skills is beneath them.
And no it’s not just the bots on X, actual SA citizens for whom this flag symbolises freedom, pain and suffering are angered. But then again, the SA doesn’t seem very good at reading the rooms outside wealthy Western Cape. Except maybe Pappas and a few others. No wonder after all these years they’re having to resort to such theatrics.
Get your message across, don’t anger would be voters, especially so late in the game. Sounds simple enough for the less genius like me. It’s like their poster post July 21 all over again! SA undecideds have other choices like Rise. May prove a massive regrettable own goal, but reality may take a while to sink in. Reflection must first give way to denial and patronising self righteousness!
Really?
This is what you choose to focus on three weeks before the most important election in the history of our country (1994 was a foregone conclusion, therefore this s#!t show we’ve got coming is more important)?
One expects more from a seasoned journalist and commentator. Why don’t you write about the independants or the parties not driven by old hat career politicians instead of rehashing the same tired old ANC/DA/EFF/MK rethoric over and over and over again?
i will second this ..more articles on new kids,…we have enough info on the old lot.
I don’t get the blowback. The DA is not burning the flag. They say that the ANC is doing that (figuratively), we should be mad at THEM for doing it. The DA wants to “repair” the flag, not burn it. Shouldn’t that be clear?
As for being divisive, this is politics, and it’s election time. Every political party is going to criticize the others.
I too was shocked at the burning of the flag. Having read Ashor Sarupen’s reply, I’ve reassessed. Spot on; unlikely that ANC will win 50% outright; so the only way they can rule is to collude with one or both parties that have outright stated they will destroy the constitution; which equals burning the flag.
I’m not much pro DA these days, but this could be the masterpiece. It could also leave us in ruins. We live in interesting times.
After watching the ad. I am still trying to figure out who is the target audience for the ad. If it is targeted to the DA faithful and those DA members on the fence to stay loyal and turn out to vote , then the Ad serves it purpose . If it was targeted to undecided voters ( Which at the moment are the ones who will decide the outcome of the elections) then it fails.
Great ad. This isn’t the time to be hyper sensitive over whether the burning of the flag should have been included. Our country is burning and has been ever since the clown show ANC came into power. So if anything the DA are just stating the obvious. Of course one would anticipate some heavy leaning social Marxists to have a frothy over it, and shout from their self proclaimed virtuous mountain top. Let’s not kid ourselves – the other parties are a dogs breakfast of liquorice allsorts. The DA is the only party which gives SA half a chance at getting out of the this mess. Any educated fool knows this, and any that say otherwise are just fools pretending to be educated.
Weird how a party that punts its wins in WC can shoot itself in the foot so often and score so many own goals by being completely tone-deaf. Oh well, can’t say you weren’t warned! Now let the voters speak!
It is old, but it is a useful reminder at a time like this – “Democracy does not work without a good opposition party.”
I was not pleased to see our flag used in this way. As you say, it is one symbol that binds us all. But we do need an opposition party with a proven track record for governing as opposed to the likes of destructive, self-serving parties like EFF and MK.
Mr Steenhuisen was great as the Chief Whip in Parliament but as the leader of SA – never. I for one will be voting for someone else nationally.
The message has been taken out of context of course, the DA miscalculated the reaction and fallout.
The only question to ask is, what is worse:
Burning the flag as an advertising stunt to get the point across?
OR
Actually burning the country down by maladministration and corruption?
What a lot of bickering bullshit.
It’s late in the day and throwing around racial comments is pathetic and uncalled for.
Guys just look at the facts on the table, a national government that has virtually destroyed our Beloved Country as opposed to a party who has proven it can govern.
Yes, they are not perfect, but at least they offer a future, based upon achievements in the Western Cape.
I have said this before, and I’ll say it again, this country will not survive another 5 years under the current ANC rule.
May we not have to look back with regret.
Ferrial Haffajee and Rebecca Davis are ANC apologists and they no longer hide it. I heard that even the forever indecisive squirrel also jumped on the bandwagon and called the ad ‘treasonous’. But hiding undeclared foreign currency under matrasses and couches isn’t something to worry about. The DA is be hated for being good in governance and is being cheered on for the destruction of SA through BEE, AA etc.
I remember the UDF and others anti apartheid activists burning the “National” flag at WITS university during the apartheid era. That was because the corrupt , racists apartheid government was ruining the country and leading the country to collapse and had brought misery to millions. Now the DA is “symbolically” burning a flag because the corrupt , racists ANC /EFF /MK coalition (YES – these parties are also racist as shown by affirmative action / quota systems , cadre deployment etc, which are all based on race), is ruining the country and will lead it to collapse bringing misery to millions. The first flag burners was all lauded for their flag burning at the time , the latter flag burners are now condemned by the same group. Hypocrisy if ever I’ve seen it .
Difference being that old flag, never represented the whole country. Yes the ANC messed up, no need to drag a national symbol, that unifies into the cesspool of politics.
I’ve seen the ad – it’s clear what the DA is trying to say but I’m flabbergasted they okayed it.
This is politics. Politicians are opportunistic and cynical. The reaction should have been foreseen.
the DA, just showing how tone deaf they are….they internal polling must be showing, they will underperform…and you are right, just politicians being politicians…no care for the ultimate social cohesion that ultimately we all want
South Africa has been burning as long as that flag has been flying. I’d rather spend my time worrying more about saving our country and be less bothered with a piece of cloth.
The message is clear in the ad.
The quote, “An evil enemy will burn his nation to the ground to rule over the ashes,” reflects Sun Tzu’s deep understanding of the cunning and treacherous nature of some adversaries. How fitting! What more convincing do you need?
I was FIRED up, BURNING with desire, to put my X next to the Matric Boy – I could not for the 29th anymore. Then came out this advert…BURNING OF THE FLAG.. my passion and desire has just….BURNED DOWN…… Hey ANC – I’m coming home..
Just a pity the low-lifer’s that bought South Africa to the state it’s , along with all the greedy politicians waiting for their freebies didn’t have the same passion for the flag! this advert has elicited. If the symbol represents so much why then did they trash it so successfully – not caring one iota for the country or the people it represents. Those very same people, lobbying to run what’s left or to finish of “unfinished business”