THERE are members of the ANC Youth League who claim their chances of being elected to the organisation’s top leadership depend on “whether your vote buys whisky, cigars or a Brazilian weave”.
Vote-buying has become an “economic issue”, former league leader Reuben Mohlaloga said during a recent discussion on the future of the organisation.
President Jacob Zuma noted at the ANC’s Mangaung national conference in 2012 that there was an emergence of “alien practices such as the use of money to buy support of ANC members”.
He cautioned that the party “should not allow a situation where those who have money turn members of the ANC into commodities”.
League presidential candidate Pule Mabe, a member of the ANC’s national executive committee, is suspected of deploying a budget of up to R6-million to campaign for votes at the league ’s elective congress which was due to start this week but was downgraded at the last minute to a consultative conference.
His supporters deny the allegation.
Mabe was expected to contest the leadership against youth league interim leader Magasela Mzobe and its former deputy president Ronald Lamola.
Mzobe says he was aware of allegations that people are buying support for leadership positions and a way would have to be found to expose those involved.
It’s not only cash that buys votes, according to academic studies.
University of Leeds lecturer Alexander Beresford and author of a research paper titled “Power, Patronage and Gatekeeper Politics in SA”, says “patronage in the form of jobs, business opportunities, access to markets, or even promises of developmental assistance to communities” can win support in leadership races.
But establishing the significance of vote-buying in ANC structures is difficult as details are hard to find, says Dr Beresford.
Few sources would go on record over the methods of buying votes — which have become more sophisticated and complex depending on whether the elections contested are for regional, provincial or national structures.
A former provincial youth league leader says buying votes “depends on how hungry and financially enthusiastic your audience is”. There is no market price or set figure, he says.
The transactions start at branch level, where a local “kingpin” is targeted and made an “irresistible” offer. The kingpin is likely to have gatekeeping powers — possibly a branch chairman or secretary. He is also offered rewards for “foot soldiers” of his who vote “correctly”.
The former leader says what makes vote-buying effective – particularly in the ANCYL – is that at regional and provincial congresses, voting is conducted by a show of hands. This enables leaders to identify who supports them and who does not.
However, it is a constitutional provision that voting be conducted by secret ballot at the league’s national congress. The former leader claims vote-buying at this level requires that the agency conducting the elections be co-opted.
In his paper, expected to be published soon by African Affairs, Beresford reaches similar conclusions on the link between money and “gatekeeper politics” in the ANC and the resultant violent contest for leadership positions.
The root causes of the problem are the socioeconomic conditions of South Africa, he says. Capitalism is still developing in the country and with it “the growth of a black capitalist class that is largely dependent on access to political authority to secure its future growth and survival.
“This class is not yet strong enough to accumulate without access to political authority and the opportunities that flow from it – so this kind of crony capitalism is to be expected and can be witnessed elsewhere in the developing world where new capitalist elites are emerging,” says Beresford.
Another factor is the huge inequality of wealth and opportunity, he says, which draws ordinary citizens into patronage networks as a means of navigating their way out of poverty.
“Attaching oneself to a successful political ‘gatekeeper’ is a way of overcoming their day-to-day struggles because they might be able to secure access to resources and opportunities.
“So there is also a bottom-up dynamic to it as well,” Beresford says in his paper.
Setumo Stone writes for Business Day
Vote-buying growing in youth league
Vote-buying has become an “economic issue”, former league leader Reuben Mohlaloga said during a recent discussion on the future of the organisation.
President Jacob Zuma noted at the ANC’s Mangaung national conference in 2012 that there was an emergence of “alien practices such as the use of money to buy support of ANC members”.
He cautioned that the party “should not allow a situation where those who have money turn members of the ANC into commodities”.
League presidential candidate Pule Mabe, a member of the ANC’s national executive committee, is suspected of deploying a budget of up to R6-million to campaign for votes at the league ’s elective congress which was due to start this week but was downgraded at the last minute to a consultative conference.
His supporters deny the allegation.
Mabe was expected to contest the leadership against youth league interim leader Magasela Mzobe and its former deputy president Ronald Lamola.
Mzobe says he was aware of allegations that people are buying support for leadership positions and a way would have to be found to expose those involved.
It’s not only cash that buys votes, according to academic studies.
University of Leeds lecturer Alexander Beresford and author of a research paper titled “Power, Patronage and Gatekeeper Politics in SA”, says “patronage in the form of jobs, business opportunities, access to markets, or even promises of developmental assistance to communities” can win support in leadership races.
But establishing the significance of vote-buying in ANC structures is difficult as details are hard to find, says Dr Beresford.
Few sources would go on record over the methods of buying votes — which have become more sophisticated and complex depending on whether the elections contested are for regional, provincial or national structures.
A former provincial youth league leader says buying votes “depends on how hungry and financially enthusiastic your audience is”. There is no market price or set figure, he says.
The transactions start at branch level, where a local “kingpin” is targeted and made an “irresistible” offer. The kingpin is likely to have gatekeeping powers — possibly a branch chairman or secretary. He is also offered rewards for “foot soldiers” of his who vote “correctly”.
The former leader says what makes vote-buying effective – particularly in the ANCYL – is that at regional and provincial congresses, voting is conducted by a show of hands. This enables leaders to identify who supports them and who does not.
However, it is a constitutional provision that voting be conducted by secret ballot at the league’s national congress. The former leader claims vote-buying at this level requires that the agency conducting the elections be co-opted.
In his paper, expected to be published soon by African Affairs, Beresford reaches similar conclusions on the link between money and “gatekeeper politics” in the ANC and the resultant violent contest for leadership positions.
The root causes of the problem are the socioeconomic conditions of South Africa, he says. Capitalism is still developing in the country and with it “the growth of a black capitalist class that is largely dependent on access to political authority to secure its future growth and survival.
“This class is not yet strong enough to accumulate without access to political authority and the opportunities that flow from it – so this kind of crony capitalism is to be expected and can be witnessed elsewhere in the developing world where new capitalist elites are emerging,” says Beresford.
Another factor is the huge inequality of wealth and opportunity, he says, which draws ordinary citizens into patronage networks as a means of navigating their way out of poverty.
“Attaching oneself to a successful political ‘gatekeeper’ is a way of overcoming their day-to-day struggles because they might be able to secure access to resources and opportunities.
“So there is also a bottom-up dynamic to it as well,” Beresford says in his paper.
Setumo Stone writes for Business Day
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