Chris Pappas is an unlikely but effective trailblazer
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskRunning schools is the job of the province, which, along with the national government and eight of South Africa’s nine provinces, is controlled by the
. But that has not stopped the mayor of the local municipality, Umngeni, from visiting. Chris Pappas listens to teachers and mothers and says he will try to help. He does this in Zulu, the ladies’ mother tongue, which he learnt while growing up on a farm. “Having somebody who can speak their language is very, very important,” says Nene Philpine, the head teacher. “It gives a better and complete understanding.
Mr Pappas is an unusual politician. He is white in a municipality where three-quarters of residents are black. He is fluent in Zulu . He is 31 years old, roughly half the average age of the country’s cabinet. He is gay. And he is from the Democratic Alliance , the official opposition, whose stronghold is in and around Cape Town. A year ago Mr Pappas became the firstmunicipality. His story is revealing—and encouraging—about the state of South African politics.
Mr Pappas’s election in late 2021 shows it is possible for talented candidates to win support across the old divisions. Black voters in Umngeni, like those across the country, “feel betrayed by the”, he says. The mayor deliberately ran a “localised campaign” that promised tangible improvements but not “miracles”. Though his narrow victory depended onsupporters stayed home, he also needed to lift his party’s share of the black vote from 8.7% to 11.7%.
The success of Mr Pappas and his deputy, Sandile Mnikathi, suggests that the monstrous damage caused by the
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