EDITORIAL: Voters, tired of rhetoric, want real change

Ahead of the local government elections on Monday, almost all major political parties face at least one common problem: sceptical and disillusioned voters.

Take the ANC. A generation after the party was swept into power, many black South Africans would say its leaders haven’t lived up to their promise of a “better life for all” and in recent years have been more concerned with internal power struggles and competition for resources.

In 2004, under Thabo Mbeki, the party secured a two-thirds majority, but when Jacob Zuma rose to the helm, its fortunes began to wane as the economy stagnated and tales of corruption on a grand scale became increasingly public. In 2016, it lost control of the key metros of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay. 

The party’s performance in 2016 not only reshaped the political landscape of the country, it also gave the first concrete signs the ANC will not rule the country “until Jesus comes”, as Zuma once proclaimed. The 2016 municipal poll also registered a significant shift in how South Africans voted, with the result showing the electorate’s lived experience and economic survival mattered as much as race or historical party loyalty. 

More and more voters, especially in urban areas, are looking beyond their emotional attachment to the ANC, seeking to hold Africa’s oldest liberation movement accountable on key issues. 

One big gripe many in the country have is the lack of political will to see the state of the economy — corruption, economic growth, unemployment and inequality — as an immediate threat that requires action that may not necessarily be popular with all constituents and factions in the ANC. But as President Cyril Ramaphosa’s response to the Covid-19 health pandemic showed, where there is political will there is the means, even if one disagrees with many of the measures taken.

Ramaphosa, who was swept to power on a promise to galvanise private sector investment to put the economy on a robust growth path, has been way too slow in delivering, reflecting fierce disagreements within the ANC. In the process, SA finances have been stretched to the brink while the unemployment rate is at a record 44% when one includes those who have given up looking for a job.

It’s tempting to blame the pandemic for how things have turned out. But blame for the deterioration in local government’s delivery of basic services such as electricity lies with the ruling party.  Monday’s vote will take place against the backdrop of another bout of scheduled power cuts by Eskom, which is facing recurring problems at its creaking fleet of coal-fired power stations.   

You can bet that poor communities are also angry at the party for the so-called load reduction under which the utility cuts power every day in areas where payment levels are low and electricity theft is high. 

As for the main opposition party, the DA, a poor showing in the  2019 general elections, when its support base dropped for the first time since 1999, led to the departure of its first black leader, Mmusi Maimane. Internal turmoil saw others leave, including former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba.

Its bungling with racially divisive election posters in Phoenix, a suburb in Durban, where tensions flared up after Indian residents were accused of racially profiling black people as looters during the July riots, harmed the credibility of its commitment to nonracialism. The posters have since been taken down, though the leadership initially defended them.

It is uncertain if the ANC will retain the overall majority or if DA mishaps and strategic shifts have narrowed its appeal. What is clear is that a growing number of South Africans are looking beyond race in elections, focusing on parties and their plans to improve their lives. 

That’s what local elections are supposed to be about — less about political parties and more about representatives who will work for their communities. If a decline in traditional allegiances is confirmed in these polls, that can be a good omen for the future and a sign that SA’s democracy is maturing.