{UAH} Why South Africans will vote for the ANC holding their noses - Comment - www.theeastafrican.co.ke

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Why South Africans will vote for the ANC holding their noses - Comment

In a few days' time, South Africans will be voting in yet another post-apartheid general election. The ruling African National Congress and its leader, incumbent President Jacob Zuma, are assured of victory.

The ANC is so hard to defeat that, for them, going out on the campaign trail could is little more than a periodic political ritual.

There are several reasons why the ANC is not about to be defeated any time soon. Two stand out:

First, it is massive, with tentacles that reach every corner of the country in ways no other party is able to match.

Second, it is the party of liberation. So deep is the gratitude most South Africans, especially the black majority, feel for the role it played in breaking the shackles of apartheid that they are not about to countenance throwing it out. In a way, the party is the beneficiary of circumstances in which most voters are its captive electorate, with nowhere else to go.

To appreciate the sense of being trapped, you only have to listen to the conversations going on within the country as the elections approach.

Some of the commentary conveys the impression that South Africa is in crisis or, to put it in a way that reflects the wide range of issues people are concerned or disgruntled about, in several crises.

Over a few days I spent in Cape Town recently, I scoured newspapers and paid attention to electronic media to figure out what the locals were doing in preparation for the election. The answer: nothing.

Election campaigns in Africa tend to trigger waves of excitement, with adherents of the different contenders treating them as an occasion for wild merrymaking as they strut about in their respective party colours.

I was therefore struck to see absolutely no one wearing party attire or racing through the streets singing party songs and waving tree branches. And yet I could see people milling around as they do in any city, with groups sitting outside cafes and bars, sipping drinks and chatting away.

I then looked out for candidates' posters on the usual walls and streetlamp posts. Not a single one. Except for one of President Zuma on an isolated billboard in an out-of-the-way corner on the highway to the airport.

Why, I wondered, did the folks here seem to be so underwhelmed by the impending elections? In older democracies, whether or not people show interest in election campaigns depends on what is at stake for them.

The more contented they feel, the less interest they show in political competition, while the more let down or angry they feel, the more they pay attention, and the more likely they are to throw out the incumbents.

In South Africa, however, media reports from across the country were painting a picture of mass discontent with President Zuma, the government he leads, the ANC and, apparently, democracy itself.

Twenty years after the very first post-apartheid elections that left them feeling life would never be the same again, thanks to the ANC's extravagant promises and the extremely high hopes they generated, South Africans are reportedly feeling angry and disillusioned.

Fuelling the discontent is a long list of things they did not expect, from seemingly endless labour-related disputes and associated strikes, to protests against poor service delivery, and the acute violence of everyday life, especially within the more deprived sections of society.

If in 1994 they believed the collapse of apartheid would deliver a good life for all, today they look back and recall unfulfilled promises. They look around them and see poverty, unemployment, bad housing, and poor educational and healthcare standards.

One outcome of all this is the feeling that there is "a leadership deficit" in the country. According to one commentator, "In 1994 there was hope, direction, ambition and, above all, leadership."

A widespread view today, at least according to media, is that all these things have dissipated, leaving the government unable to design, implement, and administer its own policies.

There is, of course, much overstatement in all this. Even amid its many failures, the ANC government has delivered real change in the lives of the multitude.

Electricity, piped water, education, health care and improved housing are available in may more areas and stretch much farther than would have been imaginable pre-1994.

And, of course, those who do the condemning forget that the super-efficient apartheid regime cared for only a small population of about 4 million whites, while with the ending of discrimination, its successor, with limited capacity and inexperience, suddenly had more than 40 million people on its hands.

In the circumstances, it has done rather well. But such is the nature of politics: The more you promise, the harsher the judgement when you fall short.

Which is why on polling day, as they go out to vote for their ANC, many will nonetheless be holding their noses.

Frederick Golooba-Mutebi is a Kampala- and Kigali-based researcher and writer on politics and public affairs. E-mail: fgmutebi@yahoo.com

Why South Africans will vote for the ANC holding their noses - Comment - www.theeastafrican.co.ke

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