Political maturity has become South Africa’s most sought-after commodity — the nation’s would-be leaders will do well to remember that as the DA’s elective conference approaches and as the ANC’s succession race heats up.
The electorate has made clear in successive elections that it is gatvol of politicians serving self or party interests.
It is not only the ANC that has haemorrhaged mass support, with many of its long-time supporters staying away en masse on election day. The DA has also increasingly been struggling to get its loyalists to the polls. With parties such as the EFF and ActionSA fishing out of the same pool as the ANC and DA, and there now being more than 300 registered political parties in SA, the body politic is increasingly splintered.
It is widely accepted that many South Africans over the years have lent their support to COPE, the EFF and perhaps even MK more recently, as a protest vote against the ANC. While these parties served as a necessary irritation to push a long-overdue reform agenda in the ANC, the health of democracy has taken a turn for the worse. The most critical is voter turnout: it dropped to a record low in the 2021 local government elections.
It is important that political parties hold legitimate internal elections. And we cannot make that assumption for all parties — many of which have pre-ordained successors or dispense with the process entirely.
But divisive leadership contests, characterised by proxy battles, in both ANC and DA have tarnished the image of both parties. Slate or factional politics — between conservatives and progressives or the so-called push for radical economic transformation — is something the electorate has developed an allergy to.
It is important that political parties hold legitimate internal elections. And we cannot make that assumption for all parties — many of which have pre-ordained successors or dispense with the process entirely.
What both parties should understand is that the erosion of voter confidence is no longer merely about service delivery failures or economic stagnation; it is increasingly about the perception that political organisations have become inward-looking machines obsessed with internal power struggles. When leadership races descend into factional warfare, voters interpret this not as healthy democratic competition but as evidence that the political class is disconnected from the daily realities facing the country.
In this sense, internal party dynamics have become a public governance issue. A party consumed by succession battles cannot convincingly project policy coherence, nor can it persuade voters that it is capable of disciplined administration once in government.
The lesson from the 2024 election is therefore sharper than many party strategists are willing to admit. South Africa is no longer operating within the old electoral psychology where liberation credentials or ideological branding automatically translated into loyalty at the ballot box. Voters are increasingly transactional and pragmatic. They are willing to withdraw support from parties that appear distracted by factional manoeuvring.
The fragmentation of the party system is not simply the product of ideological diversity; it is also a symptom of political fatigue with leadership cultures that prioritise internal patronage networks over credible governance.
The DA and ANC have been warned. If they put self or factional interests or party politics ahead of the national interest, it will be at their own peril.
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