South Africa is in the midst of a political spectacle as it heads towards the 2024 general elections. As disillusionment with the ruling ANC grows, a parade of ambitious presidents and organizations rush onto the scene with flashy but vague promises. Notable among them is Roger Jardine, an anti-apartheid activist turned business leader who launched Change Starts Now with a commitment to indexing social grants. Meanwhile, in the political situation, there is the possibility of an unexpected merger, resignation, or even an announcement by former President Zuma. Amid this turmoil, the centre-left multi-party coalition struggles to unite against the ANC, and South Africans yearn for a people-led political narrative.
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The dizzying fragmentation of South Africa's political landscape
Written by Solly Moen
Presidential aspirants and political groups are voting almost every week in the run-up to the 2024 general elections, while South Africans in their homeland and in the diaspora look on helplessly, feeling stunned, defeated and helpless. More and more people are participating in the war. Each is armed with colorful but half-baked, thumb-sucking messages with no clear policy backing, such as the permanently misgoverning African National Congress (ANC) or the ever-increasing number of African National Congresses ( ANC) believe that it will lead a significant proportion of voters to it. Among the isolated, those who have opted out of the system and no longer believe that elections can change the political direction of the country. Such voters believe that the ANC is too strong to be weakened and defeated, like a deadly tick clinging to its host or, if defeated, to bloody drag the entire fabric of democracy. Either they are led to believe that they will never peacefully hand over power without being overthrown. election.
Just a few days ago, a new formation, Change Starts Now, was announced by Roger Jardine, a well-known former anti-apartheid activist, government official, and more recently a senior business leader. In an impassioned, well-articulated speech delivered in front of a crowd in Ennerdale, the town where he spent his childhood with his mother, Jardine reminded South Africans that they I took the time to remind you of what you already know and what you have to endure every day. the abuse and humiliation they suffer at the hands of his former political stronghold, the ANC; He went on to outline a series of promises about what he would do if elected president.
His speech was almost reminiscent of current president Ramaphosa's first speech as president, first of the ANC and then of the nation. He also worked in the private sector for years before returning to politics. Many believed that he would have developed effective leadership skills if he had worked in business.
Prominent among Mr Jardine's list of promises was to inflate social grants so that those who rely on them – around 47% of the population and growing – never run out. It was a clear winner as it was linked to . He will discuss how to grow the long-suffering economy, increase employment and employment opportunities, and how to ensure that physically and mentally able-bodied citizens reduce their unhealthy dependence on social subsidies. It wasn't very clear what to do.
While this country is still trying to draw Jardine's stylish waltz into political fray, amused by the predictably childish insults of the ANC's always bombastic general secretary, Jardine and those who have collaborated with him are relegated to the revolution. (Yes, the Soviet Union may have disappeared long ago, but it doesn't exist on ANC land) as something akin to a traitor, and let's oust the ANC and undo the gains of the revolution. Funded by white monopoly capital, other aspirants took action on their own, confirming the maxim that South Africa exists. A paradise for political news reporting. The ANC secretary-general's panic was perhaps exacerbated by the resignation (later retracted) of Mavuso Msimang, a respected ANC stalwart who was rumored to be preparing to join Jardine's movement. right.
Within the past 24 hours, Karl Niehaus, a prominent political flapper also from the ANC's former Zuma faction (the faction that ousted the former president), was expelled from the party on suspicion of misconduct and subsequently announced a political party he had formed with others. did. The African Alliance for Radical Economic Transformation (ARETA) will be merged with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by the feisty Julius Malema. Malema is also a former ANC member and was expelled from the party in 2012. He launched his EFF the following year in 2013, and brilliantly he managed to grow it to third place behind his ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA). It primarily attracted disaffected young South Africans who felt economically marginalized and disqualified by the ANC.
Niehaus also supported the Azanian People's Party (AZAPO), UDM (United Democratic Movement), PAC (Azanian Pan-Africanist Congress), African Movement for Transformation (ATM), South African Communist Party (SACP), and African People's Congress (APC) – he consider joining the EFF following ARETA. All of these parties are splinters or historical partners of the ANC. The SACP, along with the ANC, are part of a tripartite alliance that perpetuates misgovernance. It continues to send endless delegations of “cadres” to China and Russia, apparently to learn the ropes of governing and apparently how to stay in power forever.
South Africans are convinced that the chances of the left-wing parties that Niehaus invited after him to join the EFF are very low, perhaps zero, but their collective headache is far from over. These political parties are all (mostly) led by men and are dedicated to uniting South Africa's diverse people around a common ideal of building a country that is constitutionally a home for all. These are people who show little interest. They all participate in an emotional political competition inspired by Soviet and African nationalism, underpinned by a “zero-sum game, winner-take-all” political philosophy. They all sit on South Africa's centrist to far-left political spectrum.
On the centre-left of the spectrum, a new multi-party political agreement between the DA, ActionSA, the Inkatha Freedom Party, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and several smaller parties that recognized the need for association. You can see the agreement. It is an as-yet-undefined set of principles intended to weaken the ANC's hold on power or increase its chances of overthrowing it altogether. But this is a strange kind of agreement. This is because, based on what they regularly say in public, there appears to be an unhealthy level of mutual mistrust among those leading this arrangement.
They have a point in that they have come to the realization that no party can effectively weaken or defeat the ANC on its own. But based on what South Africans want, we will campaign for a joint, multi-pronged victory to attract voters beyond our regular members and supporters, especially those who have opted out of the system in ever-increasing numbers. They will not receive any points if they are unable to formulate and present a statement. – explained further above – coming from all age and demographic groups. It also doesn't help that each of the pact's leaders consider themselves future presidents. They are said to be outright rejecting the idea of an unprecedented weakened rotating chairmanship created by a joint campaign victory.
As I write this, former President Zuma's team has warned South Africans that former President Zuma is also set to make a major announcement on Saturday 6 December. There is widespread speculation that he might follow his friend Niehaus into joining the EFF, which seems highly unlikely, or that he might announce his own party, perhaps joining his son's It is likely that Duduzane will take over as a kind of co-leader. Mr. Duduzane has already expressed his presidential ambitions in the media several times, but both father and son have faced the criminal justice system for crimes related to socio-economically devastating state capture and other forms of corruption. There is still a possibility that he is hitting.
It is clear that there is no logic in South Africans sitting and watching their country's political events as if they were watching a movie with no role assigned to them in the script. The answers to what kind of country we must emerge from the coming elections must come from the people, no longer from political men and women whose priorities are rooted in their own navels. not.
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