Less than two months before South Africa begins municipal elections, President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a campaign to register voters
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Less than two months before South Africa begins municipal elections, President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a campaign to register voters - and vote for the African National Congress - in Soweto.
Municipal opinion polls on November 1 will test whether the party that liberated South Africa from apartheid can weather a situation so difficult that members and supporters themselves are losing patience. However, Cyril Ramaphosa says he is reassured about the votes. “I [feel] strong. I am very strong.
It is advisable to go, get stuck in elections and campaigns. Our people are ready to vote for the ANC so that we can win municipality by municipality, and that is our intention. " His participation in the elections at the informal Nomzamo Park estate was met with both excitement and anger “First, they [ANC] are here because we're going to have a vote [local elections], so that's the problem. All [the rest of] the time, where were they? where are they all the time lamented Aphiwe Diko, a resident of Nomzamo Park. "....
For many years I did not vote. But I realized that if I didn't vote My vote automatically goes to the ANC. That means I'm okay with the ANC rules, so today I went to the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) to register. Go vote for another party better than the ANC,” added another resident.
Analysts and pollsters predict that while the opposition has yet to score major national successes against the historic party, the ANC has been voting over the years and is expected to lose more in local elections. - crowdfunding for survival - Since the end of August, employees of the ANC, which is said to be choking on several million dollars in debt, have gone on strike and staged sporadic protests, demanding payment of their salaries.
A very desperate party is one that has launched a crowdfunding campaign "to generate active interest in the strength of the organization". Then, on Wednesday, hundreds of green and yellow ANC activists gathered in Johannesburg from across the country, threatening to boycott the upcoming elections in protest at the ANC headquarters.
Their main problem was the party's candidate selection process, which they claimed went ahead without consulting the ANC's grass roots and saw the contenders claiming to gain a place on the electoral rolls through bribery. To make matters worse, the understaffed party failed to register hundreds of candidates before the August 23 deadline that the Election Commission has since extended, angering the opposition.
Political analyst Ebrahim Fakir said the failure to operate came from the ANCs "not having control over internal groups". President Cyril Ramaphosa faces a loyal Sumas loyalist. create divisions and violence The charismatic Zuma still counts on numerous supporters in the ANC despite being involved in several corruption scandals.
Riot background - A seemingly endless list of problems has been effected. In 2019, although the ANC won the general election, the ANC had its worst performance ever. The party had never garnered less than 60 percent of the vote before, but that year the party gained 57.5 percent.
In 2016 local polls, he lost control of major cities like Johannesburg and Pretoria in favor of the Democratic Alliance (DA), its main rival. And a poll by global research group Ipsos released this week found that less than half of the polled registered voters are likely to vote for ANC in the upcoming elections. However, the DA has yet to make major national gains among a general electorate held back by its white party image.
And the former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, who was kicked out of the party and formed by left-wing fighters for economic freedom, is considered by many to be too radical and populist. Political analyst Ralph Matekga, however, stresses that "it is not a matter of victory or defeat: the ANC will have a serious problem with a very limited majority" across the country.
Local elections will also take place just months after South Africa experienced the worst upsurge in political violence since the end of apartheid. In July, Zuma's staunch supporters protested violently against his imprisonment. Ordinary citizens joined them in looting malls and warehouses, dealing a devastating blow to the economy, potentially pushing supporters to vote for other parties.
Ramaphosa called the riots an attempt at rebellion and promised to bring the instigators to justice. Since then, dozens of suspects have been arrested, with several others under investigation
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