President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted that he is worried about how the ANC will perform in the local government elections on November 1, but stressed that it is not about to be relegated to a rural party any time soon.
The ANC has experienced declining electoral support over successive elections in recent times, losing key metros Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay to DA-led coalitions in the municipal elections in 2016.
A recent Ipsos poll showed declining support for the ANC, putting it at 49% nationally, down from the 57.5% it won in the 2019 general election.
The trend is not surprising as the country’s democracy matures and the former liberation movement settles into become a governing party. Many of the liberation movements-turned-political parties in Africa, including the ANC’s long-standing ally, Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe, have been relegated to rural parties as urban supporters move to opposition parties whose support base is mainly among urban and upwardly mobile voters.
Responding to questions from Business Day on Wednesday during a media briefing following the ANC’s manifesto launch on Monday, Ramaphosa said: “Any leader who goes to an election has to be worried because in the end ... [you] rely on the populace to support your party and, yes, we put our best foot forward, to go to our people honestly and openly as well, to deal with the problems.”
Ramaphosa said the ANC had been experiencing voter apathy over the past few elections, “where voters have not been coming through in large numbers, either to register or vote”.
Voters have been experiencing “diminishing returns when it comes to voter participation. However, this is not a new phenomenon, it has been taking place,” he said.
However, the ANC was “pleasantly surprised” at 60% of those who had registered to vote were young people.
He said Covid-19 had had a disruptive effect on people’s lives, the economy and the local government elections. The ANC wanted to see a bigger turnout at the polls and was working to “ensure that a large number of our supporters come out to support the ANC”.
“We never thought we would be a rural party ... we are supported by a number of South Africans, they come from rural and urban areas ... our numbers came down in metros, but that doesn’t mean the ANC is about to become a rural party.”
When asked if he was worried about the upcoming elections, Ramaphosa said: “A bit.” But he said he is more confident than worried about the party’s performance.
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