I was personally at the elections results centre and there was a sense of mourning among the ANC cadres. It was not my first time working at the results centre and over the years I have observed the jovial mood among ANC members ahead of the announcement. There were pre-planned celebrations. They knew people would vote for them, because there was no other party believed to care for the majority of the poor black.
In my opinion losing just one more municipality on top of the Western Cape, was already a big loss to a party that has never had to convince people to vote for them. But as I write this, it is not clear if the ANC will manage to win Tshwane and Johannesburg. Who created this situation?
Could it be Marikana? I don't think so, because the ANC won general elections after the massacre that killed 34 miners. The Nkandla saga had already been in the media spotlight when we went to the 2014 polls. There had been hundreds of service delivery protests when we voted two years ago. So many that academics have compiled so much material on the hotspots of protests. There is so much information out together on why people protest more and more. The ANC has always held the view that people had a right to protest because we live in a democracy. Even in the build up to the 2016 local government elections, the ANC dismissed the political killings in KwaZulu-Natal as a democratic process. President Zuma made this bizarre comment more than once. He said the fight for political positions was a sign of a maturing democracy. That for me, is a sign of detachment. We forgot where we come from. The 1994 election came after so many people lost their lives. How can pre election violence in 2016 be dismissed?
The people of South Africa used these local government polls to tell the ANC they are fed up. I am not discounting the fact that the ANC still enjoys majority support. But personally, I have not met an ANC supporter who does not benefit from the party in one way or another. Most people I know and support the ANC are often connected through work, business or some other commitment. I would never claim there aren't people who love the party as a matter of principle. But it is also undeniable that the party became a magnet for people who have ambition to amass wealth. Service for the people was never a priority for them. The ANC was tainted. The rot continued. It got to a point some people could not stand the stench of corruption. We see that today in the polls. People made a choice to vote for other parties. Some of my friends, colleagues and relatives told me how painful it was to vote for other parties and not the ANC. Because it is the ANC of our mothers and fathers. It is the ANC that made sure we were fed when our parents were incarcerated by the apartheid government. The ANC of Nelson Mandela, Luthuli and Tambo.
The ANC must root putt he rot, if it wants to win the 2019 elections. People are not as gullible as everyone thinks.
