Grant Pascoe
Robin Carlisle knows politics well. He helped start the Progressive Federal Party, fought against forced removals through ACTSTOP, served as a Democratic Party MP for Wynberg between 1989 and 1994, and later became the Western Cape Minister of Transport in the Democratic Alliance A government.
The Shiift is Quiet but Strong
Years ago he said something important. The coloured vote does not move easily but when it moves it rarely comes back.Today his words are proving true. In the Western Cape the DA is losing support from the very people who helped it win power. Coloured communities.This shift is not loud. It is quiet but strong. People are walking away from the DA not because they are angry but because they have had enough. They feel ignored. Disrespected. Used only when it is time to vote and forgotten afterwards.
Coloured Voters are Finding New Political Homes
From Mitchells Plain to George coloured voters are looking for a new political home. Maybe it is the Patriotic Alliance. Maybe it is the National Coloured Congress. Maybe something else. What matters is that they are leaving and once they do they usually do not come back.
Avril Harding shared a story from his time in law school. His professor George Davenish once said that the seats in the old apartheid parliament were like ripe plums hanging from a tree. Someone would eventually grab them. That is happening now. Where the DA has failed others are stepping in.
Also Read: Coloured Voices Matter: The Missing Faces in Politics and Media
The DA Refuses to Adapt
The Democratic Alliance still thinks it owns the coloured vote. It does not. Voters have changed. They want respect. They want power. They want leaders who listen. Not just nice speeches and empty promises.
The DA should remember its history. The Progressive Party once ran Joburg. But they lost it because they refused to adapt. The same thing could happen in Cape Town and across the Western Cape.
The truth is clear. Coloured voters are wide awake. They are thinking for themselves. And once they leave a party they do not come back.
Robin Carlisle saw this coming. The DA did not. Now they are paying the price.
