By Electioneering is now in full swing following the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday evening that South Africa will hold its national elections on 29 May 2024.
This year marks 30 years of democracy in South Africa and 30 years of ANC rule. This year’s elections have been dubbed “our 1994” as most South Africans have expressed frustration with the ANC and are calling for change. There is marked euphoria amongst the citizens as some took to social media to discourage people from voting ANC; encouraging them instead to vote for any other party.
The liberation party has been plagued with corruption allegations, non-service delivery, broken promises, lies, of which its Secretary General Fikile Mbalula publicly admitted that the ANC lied for former President Jacob Zuma on his fire pool in Nkandla.
Opposition parties are now out electioneering seeking to steal some votes from the ruling party and increase their support. Manifestos have been launched and some are yet to be launched. The battle lines have now been drawn, only the polls will tell who South Africans prefer to lead them.
According to polls, the ANC is expected to receive 39% of the votes, while the DA is expected to get 16% of the votes with the EFF breathing down its neck coming in at 15%. ActionSA is expected to get a mere 3%, a percentage below the IFP.
As much as the ANC is losing support, it still has a stronghold in rural areas. The trajectory shows that the ruling party is becoming more of a rural party as time lapses. Majority of its supporters come from rural communities at 50%, in urban areas the ANC holds 38% and 33% in metropolitan areas.
The downward trend of the liberation party indicates that South Africa is heading towards a post ANC government, it may not be in these elections, but eventually, unless something drastic happens, the ANC will be out of power. It will be an end of an era.
However, the question remains, if not the ANC in power, then who? Is the EFF fit to run the country? Can the DA be trusted not to re-introduced apartheid and the oppression of black people and coloureds alike? Or better the devil you know?
