OPINION: Uppermost in the minds of voters will be who can you trust.
THE ANC approaches the local government elections on the back foot. It is hamstrung by its own organisational challenges.
It is riven with factional battles. Its leaders are mired in corruption. It is a party that has failed to pay its own workers thus violating the most basic conditions of employment.
Not long ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa told the Zondo Commission that the ANC was accused number one. The opposition parties concur. The EFF and the DA seized the opportunity and indicated that accused number one was a serial and repeated offender not to be trusted.
The ANC argues that it should be trusted on the basis that it has acknowledged its mistakes. This we have heard before. The ANC manifesto is full of promises. No, we are told that these are commitments. But there is nothing unique or new about these commitments, especially for the ANC and DA as parties in the government. Besides, since all parties are targeting the same electorate, the promises or commitments are likely to be similar. The difference is how they are articulated.
Uppermost in the minds of voters will be who can you trust. It is less about identification of challenges faced by municipalities. The question being posed as far as the EFF is concerned is its readiness to govern.
In 1992, the ANC responded to this question by issuing the document Ready to Govern. At the time, the ANC was a formidable party, riding on a crest of a wave. It enjoyed universal endorsement. Today, the party is poor and shameful shadow of itsself.
Delivering the ANC manifesto, President Cyril Ramaphosa was big on commitments. He correctly noted that many communities experienced unstable electricity supply and infrastructure was not properly maintained. He was quick to commit the party to providing “affordable and reliable supply of electricity to every South African home, we will significantly increase the contribution of renewable energy through a just energy transition that creates new economic opportunities for workers and communities”.
Unfortunately for him, history has no blank pages. The promise echoes a similar one he made in his State of the Nation address last year: “Over the next few months, as Eskom works to restore its operational capabilities, we will be implementing measures that will fundamentally change the trajectory of energy generation in our country. We are taking the following measures to rapidly and significantly increase generation capacity outside of Eskom.” Nineteen months later, voters are subjected to the same commitment.
But being a repeated offender comes naturally. After all, it was the same Ramaphosa who promised in 2015 that in “another 18 months to two years, you will forget that the challenges we had with relation to power and energy and Eskom ever happened”.
Ramaphosa has sought to project himself as a corruption buster. Sadly, this is not shared by many South Africans. According to an Afrobarometer survey, South Africans think corruption has worsened under his administration, with 64% saying it increased in the past year. More damning is that 53% of those surveyed think his office is also implicated.
For its part, the DA wants us to believe that where it governs, it governs better. This is a serious indictment on the ANC. First, for the DA, the ANC has ceased to be a party of liberation. It is just another party. While the ANC’s support has dwindled since 1994, the DA experienced a remarkable growth from its 2% representation. Lately though, this growth is no longer guaranteed. The party has consolidated and retained the white vote. Whereas it appeared to be making inroads within the black community, it has a serious problem.
It has succeeded in seemingly mistreating almost every significant African leader it has had. It is common cause that each black leader would follow the same route. The hoisting of leaders such as Lindiwe Mazibuko, Patricia de Lille and Mmusi Maimane only to throw them out has become its trademark. Black leaders seem to be useful idiots that can be dislodged. They are soon consigned to the history of failed experiments and projects.
For its part, the EFF promises to “rescue local government from its present malaise and build self-reliant, corrupt-free municipalities that deliver reliable services to our people”. Understanding full well that it has not been in the government, the party listed its performance as a party in opposition. This fact-based assessment was meant to indicate its readiness to govern.
The party projects itself as pro-poor to distinguish itself from the ANC which it accuses of being nothing more than “managers of the affairs of capital, utilising public resources to enrich its elite and their handlers”.
Among its record achievement is the reinstatement and extension of 645 nurses whose contract ended in March this year. Its councillors in King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipal Council tabled a motion for the municipality to stop removing street vendors. The municipality has since stopped removing street vendors and allows them to trade. The interventions, including the removal of corrupt councillors, are replicated in all municipalities were the party is represented.
The party vows to step up the efforts once it is elected in power. The party can account for its record. Unfortunately, the party is saddled with having to explain how this pares with accusation emanating from the VBS scandal. Well, the real test would come once the party is in power.
The challenge faced by all parties boils down to whether their messages are believable and credible.
*Seepe is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) of Institutional Support at the University of Zululand.
**The views expressed are not necessarily that of IOL.