Governance expert Dr Harlan Cloete says the African National Congress (ANC) nationally and the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape may pay the price at the polls for neglecting their voter base.
Cloete, who is a research fellow at the Department of Public Administration and Management at the Free State University voted in his home town of Paarl in the 2024 National Elections on Wednesday.
“You have 30 years of the ANC in government nationally and 15 years of DA rule in the Western Cape. Both governments are under threat,” Cloete told IOL.
“If the DA doesn’t lose their majority in 2024, they will lose it in the next one. The same applies to the ANC. It’s just the natural progression of politics,” he said.
“People become comfortable in their positions and start to take the voters for granted.”
Cloete said the ANC’s failures over the last 10 years in dealing with corruption and service delivery could see their sell-by-date for the liberation movement come sooner rather than later.
“Internationally, if you look at political parties that bring liberation to their people, normally they rule for about 50 years and then they start to lose support,” Cloete said.
“But the ANC’s demise has come a lot quicker, mainly because of the events of the last 10 years. Over the the last 10 years there has been disappointment in terms of the trajectory where the country finds itself,” he said.
Governance expert @DrHarlanGovZA voted in his home town of Paarl.
— IOL News (@IOL) May 29, 2024
He says smaller parties such as the Patriotic Alliance and Rise Mzansi could be a factor in this election, especially in the Western Cape. pic.twitter.com/73uswjsZoY
“The number one scourge in the country is corruption. If you look at the Zondo report, it said the governing party must really take stock about its role in what has happened. You can’t deny that a lot of positive things have happened. But the last decade has been a mess.”
Cloete said the DA also finds itself in a position where they have to watch their backs in the Western Cape.
The emergence of parties such as the Patriotic Alliance and the National Coloured Congress has rocked the boat in the Cape, with both parties going toe-to-toe with the province’s governing party in the campaigning stakes.
They targeted the so-called “Coloured vote”, which has in the past secured victory for the DA in the Western Cape.
Cloete, however, was loath to use “Coloured Nationalism” as a driving force behind these two parties, saying that they the PA and the NCC have a similar message to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
“If you ask the working class if things have changed in the Western Cape, then they will say very little has changed for the working class and the poorest of the poor,” said Cloete.
“I don’t think it’s coloured nationalism. If you look at the EFF, it also positions itself in that space, saying ‘you vote and vote, but you stay poor’.
“Political parties like the PA and the NCC have come to the realisation that they have to make the working class aware that their material conditions have not changed much.
“Politicians are elitists, and both the DA and the ANC are being accused of using the poor for votes, but not really changing their lives.”
@JohnGoliath82
IOL Politics