2024 Elections

The South African General Elections are roughly two years away and indubitably the ANC are etching ala prison-style on Luthuli House walls the remaining days till they will have to magnanimously accept defeat for the first time since South Africa attained democracy. 

The chasm between the pro Zuma faction, whose snouts have been firmly wedged in the trough since 2007, and the Ramaphosa faction who aim to fix the country, has been widening. To even the less politically-curious purveyor the evidence would suggest that the split has happened and all attempts to reform the party are as dead as Madiba’s dream for a rainbow South Africa. Corruption is too deeply imbedded, forcing the most loyal supporter to admit to himself it is time to find a new political home in the forthcoming election. But who will lead us once the ANC’s corpse has been cast out in the cold and members of that party scurry away from its dead host to find a political home?

Numerous parties will be vying for your vote, offering up reasons why they, more than any other political party, deserve your mark on the ballot paper. And while a great number of parties exist in South Africa, unlike both the United Kingdom and the United States, where their political systems effectively comprise only two real political “homes”, none of the lot we have makes me feel any more comfortable.

The official opposition to the African National Congress is the Democratic Alliance, who I have voted for on previous occasions. What chance does the DA have of taking the reins and steering the country to prosperity once Africa’s oldest and most corrupt liberation movement has vacated the most powerful positions in the land? My response to this question in 2019 would suggest that it is the only party able to rescue South Africa from the drowning puddle in which it finds itself. But for the last while the DA seems to be on a kamikaze mission. Unjustified antics such as booting Natasha Mazzone from chief whip won’t do them well, and suggests at the very least that the party may be plagued with internecine battles that have been hushed. The exodus of competent people from the DA like Phumzile van Damme and Patricia Kopane is also cause for concern. While the DA is generally a force for good, I do not know if its leader John Steenhuisen is the man for the job. The EFF once hit back at the DA mordantly describing Steenhuisen as uneducated, and I fear they may be right.

This brings me tidily onto the “red berets”. Could anyone with a clear conscience and without the hinderance of mind-altering drugs vote for a fascist party? Is South Africa really that hungry for a Hitler or Benito Mussolini of its own? I don’t think so. Could a political party whose members are themselves marred in corruption, and I speak here about the looting of VBS Bank, be capable and, more importantly, trusted with the arduous task of creating a united South Africa free or corruption, crime and racism? The question does not require much ponderance. Opprobrious behaviour inside and out of parliament are ingrained in the EFF’s DNA, including Malema’s eternal hatred of white people. It must be asked if any person of a reasonable mind who doesn’t secretly harbour the same genocide-stoking ambitions as Malema, could vote for the party with a firm belief that it will not be a continuation of the same shakedown artistry of state coffers we’ve seen from the ANC? 

Fortunately, the history books have taught us that it never ends well with fascist dictators at the helm. And what can be said of the EFF’s economic model, you may ask? Tried and tested in several countries, some of which remain allied to South Africa, we now know that socialism and communism lead to economic ruin, and offer no benefit to anyone except the despots running those countries. To refute this statement not only is mendacious but an attempt to deliberately deceive those less likely to open a book that socialism offers a future and is sustainable.

What, then, about the Freedom Front Plus, who made steady gains in the last municipal election? I am not confident that the Freedom Front is the party to successfully govern South Africa, either. At face value the FF Plus doesn’t seem patently racist, but something about the party and its members remind me of the old National Party. Like car salesmen and estate agents, politicians are slippery creatures and usually rely on charm to win over the fence-sitter. The Freedom Front Plus is not bothered about laying on the charm. They are to the point and what they want is the protection of minorities’ rights, including the preservation of the Afrikaans culture. As of 2021, there are officially 6.8 million Afrikaans speaking people in the country. Which means their chief endeavour does not appeal to at least 53 million people. More recently the Freedom Front joined the CapeXit movement, which aims to declare the Western Cape an independent country and likely establish a border separating it from South Africa. Rather than fixing South Africa, could one fairly say the Freedom Front wants to breakaway from South Africa and form an enclave separate form the rest of the country?

And finally, out there, far away in the political wilderness are the smaller guys who are neither here nor there. I am referring to Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA, Mmusi Maimane’s One South Africa Movement, Mosiuoa Lekota’s Cope, and other tiny parties that believe they offer a viable solution. Completely impotent, their sole contribution is to split the vote and sow seeds of confusion among voters already unsure of who to vote for. Coalitions with either of the big three are their only hope at relevance at the next election. 

Presuppose the removal of the ANC indeed happens in 2024, a two week long celebration seems appropriate given the enormity of the victory. Fixing the country that the ANC has dismantled over the last three decades means we have tons of work ahead of us. And I suggest we begin by building sufficient numbers of jails for the former rulers.