New Political Realities in SA

Before the local government elections in August, the African National Congress controlled five out of the six metros with populations of above a million. Now the ANC controls two and the Democratic Alliance four. This is a seismic reversal which may very well signal a recalibration of our politics.

For the ANC these elections were a crushing defeat, even as the party retained a national majority. For a party that had never dipped below a national percentage of 60% in nine previous elections, this year’s tally of 54% represents a potent repudiation.

There is some comfort for the ANC: for all its noises to the contrary, the decline is in large part attributable to the poor performance of President Jacob Zuma, whose face dominated the party’s election campaign, from posters in wards to hubristic wall-sized images in airports.

Mr Zuma is unlikely to lead the ANC in the 2019 national election, and a different presidential candidate might persuade the lost voters — and those who stayed away from the polls in August — to return their support.

At the same time, the ANC’s post-election paralysis and the festering internal division is enfeebling the once insuperable party, and erstwhile supporters may well regard the whole party as lacking in competence, integrity and vision, regardless of its leadership.

With four metros in hand, the opposition can now show that it is a viable alternative to the ANC.

This will not be easy, however. The Democratic Alliance (DA) may be performing well in Cape Town, a relatively affluent city where the party has outright control and has the assured cooperation of the provincial government.

But in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay, the DA is governing in coalitions of expedience, in ANC-controlled provinces. Especially in its two Gauteng metros, the DA leads with the aid of the Economic Freedom Front (EFF), and this will involve unpalatable compromises, threats and ultimatums, and the ever-present possibility of coalitions falling apart.

And even if these coalitions function well — which would be an unexpected bonus — the DA is facing far greater service delivery challenges than it does in the Western Cape (where its record in serving the poor is not unblemished).

For it to be seen as a credible alternative to the ANC, the DA will also need to dispel the widely held suspicion that it seeks to “bring back apartheid”. To do that, it will have to concretely place the needs of the poor first. The party must also become conscious that the demographic compositions of municipal excos do matter.

The EFF also faces new responsibilities, especially where it holds the balance of power. As the power broker in Johannesburg and Tshwane, the young party will have to grow up.

The time for gimmicks is over, and the EFF now must make the transition from being a stunt movement to a mature party—and do so without sacrificing its energy or integrity.

By virtue of being in government, the EFF cannot act with the petulant militancy it has built its reputation on. It must now serve the people — and even as the EFF must represent the interests of its constituency, it must also assume its share of the responsibility for the welfare of all the people in the metros and municipalities in which they co-govern.

For the EFF, this is a huge opportunity. It is quite possible that in 2019 the party will have its hands on the scales of power nationally. Over the next three years the EFF will have to prove worthy of being placed in such a crucial position.

The ANC has, by and large, allowed power to corrupt itself. Greed and arrogance too often trump service for the greater good. Time will tell whether the ANC can heal itself, but it will serve South Africa ill should it fail to do so.

For the DA and the EFF, there is a cautionary tale in the ANC’s decline.

As Catholics we are always called to pray for our public representatives, whether or not we voted for them, that they be ever-conscious of their responsibility to serve all the people, especially those on the peripheries.