South Africa's ANC in Battle Mode
Jacob Zuma, the presidnet of the Republic of South Africa
With local elections to start tomorrow, the ANC is on course for victory despite a faltering campaign.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - In the last weeks before South Africa's Local Government Elections tomorrow - Wednesday, the country's ruling party the African National Congress (ANC) seems to have entered battle mode. What was initially a weak campaign turned on May Day weekendwhen President Jacob Zuma visited Cape Town, in the Western Cape, on the campaign trail. Yet the low blows aimed at the province's ruling party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), can be added to a list of mistakes and mishaps that have accompanied the ANC campaign. Ranging from serious discontent over service delivery in municipalities across the country, to rows within the party and between the partners of the tripartite alliance, the ANC has a battle to fight before election day comes round.
Voicing discontent
At the national level elections - where in 2009 the ANC won 65.90% of the vote - it is unthinkable that anyone but the ANC will go home with a sweeping victory. The party of South Africa's liberation heroes such as Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu command an ideological and almost metaphysical authority that neither the DA nor the ANC-break-away party, the Congress of the People (COPE), can seriously threaten. However on a local level, there is a hope that pragmatism may override ideology, and in local towns across South Africa there is plentiful evidence of the ANC's unfulfilled promises and failures to deliver. A recent report published by the Institute for Democracy in Africa shows that nearly 80% of the respondents sampled in 21 municipalities were completely dissatisfied with service provision in their municipality. The issues that have surfaced in the run-up to the election - service delivery, corruption, housing, education, health care - have stirred up anger and prompted South Africans to voice their discontent.
This anger manifests itself as protests and demonstrations, most famously the recent protest in Ficksburg, Eastern Cape, in which the death of Andries Tatane at the hands of the police drew even more attention to dissatisfaction with service delivery and the brutality of law enforcement. The fact that Tatane was a member of COPE, and that COPE leader Mosiuoa Lekota called this event a " test for democracy" in South Africa was a blow to the ANC. Increasingly, the ANC has also seen many of its provincial candidates leave the party and stand as independent candidates. Ntombizanele Sopeki, of Knysna, Western Cape, told South African weekly the Mail & Guardianthat unhappiness with the ANC and lack of reaction to her community's complaints forced her to stand as an independent candidate.
Tarnished reputation
The phenomenon of independent candidates can also be ascribed to the party's disunity, infighting and its messy election campaign. The ANC's reputation had been tarnished by the spat between Trevor Manuel, Head of the National Planning Commission, and government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi over the laters comments about Coloureds last month. The past year has seen a rocky relationship between the ANC and its alliance partner the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), which after months of disagreement only recently re-proclaimed its unconditional support for the ruling party through an open letter. This seems to foreshadow more rows to come in preparation for the ANC's congress in 2012, at which a new internalpecking order will be voted on. The candidate selection process in many provinces had left ANC members disgruntled and disillusioned, and even President Zuma himself had to apologise for the slow start to the local government election campaign.
Yet the question remains whether all this really has an impact on the population's loyalty to the ANC. South African journalist and political commentator Jean-Jacques Cornish told Think Africa Press that one cannot simply assume that disenchantment and dissatisfaction with the ANC's performance automatically results in votes for the opposition. "When the drums sound […] they would rather not vote than vote for someone else," he said. When it comes to election day, individual votes are not seen as a potential personal protest or political tool, but as a sign of allegiance. DA leader Helen Zille knows the weight of this obstacle to her party's success, urging voters to see the potential power in their votes and to use them to send the ANC a message. Drawing on recent protests, she said: "It's no use to protest against the ANC's broken promises in April and vote for the ANC in May."
Racialised politics
In addition to the ANC's popularity, its frequent use of racially-charged slogans seem to resonate with a majority of South Africa's population. As Cornish points out, racial issues and divisions are still very much a factor in the political process and are frequently dragged into the election arena. Campaigning in Cape Town's townships, in the only province run by the DA, President Zuma said Cape Town was still " entrenched in apartheid" and needed to be liberated from the DA. Imagery harking back to the ANC's liberation struggle is often invoked: Julius Malema, the president of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL), told voters, "You don't want to contribute to a worsening condition of Mandela by not voting ANC", while Zuma intones that a vote for the ANC is a declaration against apartheid. While both the ANC and the DA accuse the other of clinging to racial divisions, apartheid-era wounds still dominate politics, and are certainly a tool in the hands of the ANC.
It is clear that the ANC has disappointed many across South Africa in its performance in local government. Beyond the upcoming elections, the ruling party has much work to do. Yet the ANC is more than a political party; it is the liberation movement. Cornish emphasises that the upcoming elections will most likely not reflect the extent of the voter dissatisfaction."The kind of trumpets that we thought might sound against the ANC have made a noise, but when push comes to shove they vote ANC," he said. Campaign mishaps, scandals and infighting have created a whirlwind of negative media coverage around President Zuma's election campaign, and will perhaps result in a lower voter turn-out. However there is little likelihood that this will have a significant impact on the outcome of the upcoming elections.
TAP
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