On May 18th, South Africans will go to the polls to vote in nation-wide local municipality elections. While they are only local in nature, they will have a reverberation for years to come, especially leading into the next general election in 2014. This is because it will in essence a referendum on the nation's relationship with the African National Congress. The ANC, which has ruled South Africa since the end of Apartheid in 1994, has increasingly been the target of a vast array of grievances and charges of corruption. Currently headed by President Jacob Zuma, the people of the country are witnessing its slow evolution from the party of liberation to one with an ever tightening grip over its people.
For the first time in 17 years of full democracy, the voters of South Africa will have a clear and tested alternative to the status-quo.
The Western Cape, the most visited province in the country, is ruled by the Democratic Alliance (DA). Led by former mayor of Capetown Helen Zille, it has become by all accounts the best run out of the nation's nine provinces. Zille, who currently holds the office of Premier of the Western Cape, has been leader of the opposition since the general election of 2009, which saw for the first time since a 1994 a province elect a party other than ANC into power. Since 2006, when Zille was elected mayor of Capetown, it has consistently been rated as the best run city in the country. When the DA begin leading the province itself, it soon became the best run province in the country. Each DA-run municipality in the country has also consistently been ranked above those run by the ANC in terms of both management and service delivery. For the coming election, it is clear that the DA has proven itself more in touch with its constituents and more capable of properly running the nation.
The ANC however, has decided to make this not an election about issues, but about race. Some of its statements have begun to echo those of the ruling party of Zimbabwe, the ZANU-PF. Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist since 1980, has built his current policy on the eradication of minorities in his country. After 17 years in power, the ANC has revealed itself to be headed down the same path. Julius Malema, president of the ANC Youth League, is its most vocal and divisive national (unofficial) spokesperson. Following a trip to Zimbabwe, Malema has thrown his suppsort behind two very draconian measures that have led their northern neighbor to ruin. One is the Protection of Information bill, which would allow the government (and therefore the ANC) to prosecute journalists for revealing information that they believe to be unfit for public viewing under the guise of undermining "national interests". This in essence could be whatever the government wants it to be. Similar laws were enacted during Apartheid. The second is mass nationalization that would mean an entire state control of the mining industry-arguably the nation's greatest source of income.
The DA is strongly opposed to both of these proposed policies, which has led them to be labeled by Malema as being against the interests of the nation. The ANC has implied that the skin color of their leader is indicative of this. Instead of promising to improve their performance, they are telling voters to beware of Ms. Zille and her party. They claim that the DA is only looking out for the interests of the wealthy, and more importantly the white minority. As a white South African, Zille will inevitably face this problem in vary degrees for a very long time.
To say that the DA is a party for whites and only seeks to protect their interests in ignorant. To begin with, a party that seeks only for the votes of white South Africans would never in the post-Apartheid era be a major player in national politics. Just over 9% of the nation is of European descent- you do the math. If Zille was only looking to represents whites, she wouldn''t have gone to great lengths to create the most diverse opposition party in the nation. The DA has also provided its constituents-ALL of its constituents-with far superior management and services than any ANC -run municipalities in the country. This means that the vast majority of people receiving said services are black and living in poverty. Playing the race card only looks pathetic when stacked against a truth. And that truth is that the DA is doing more for the poor majority in the country than the ANC.
While I don't expect the vast majority of municipalities in the country to suddenly transfer power from the ANC to the DA, I believe that the message to the ruling party will be loud and clear: Take care of business by 2014, or the Democratic Alliance will do it for you.
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