EFF’s not-so-secret weapon

The election campaign has been long and hard. Here are some of my reflections following the announcement of the final results

The Zuma Legacy

President Zuma will make history. It is on his watch that the ANC has declined so dramatically (it went from 66% support in 2006 to 54% in 2016).

But the fissures in the ANC under his term and after these elections now run so deep that he may yet be a bigger feature in history than we thought. Under him the 104-year-old ANC may split.

As the elections blame game in the ANC intensifies over the next week, those who support him in the ANC, particularly the so-called Premier League (faction built around the premiers of Mpumalanga, North West, Free State and now the new KZN ANC leadership) are daring his critics to “leave the ANC” if they are so deeply unhappy.

If Zuma stays in power for a significant amount of time into the future such a scenario is not unthinkable. It is already clear that the ANC in major metros has soured of the man, hence the big stayaway and shift to the opposition by ANC members. On his watch COPE, the EFF and the United Front have been born of the ANC. Numsa and its 400000 members has left Cosatu. The ANC in Gauteng will be next. What a legacy.

The Future Is Messy

Talk of coalitions is rife. However, it is doubtful whether many realise just how hard and fragile coalitions can be. Take Jacob Zuma’s home municipality, Nkandla, which the ANC lost last week.

After the 2011 municipal elections‚ Nkandla was run by a coalition of the National Freedom Party and ANC.

Within two years the IFP gained outright control after by-elections.

What happened there?

Many coalitions might be formed, but many will collapse, triggering by-elections. There lies an opportunity for the losers to regroup, energise their support group and take the municipality.

Voters will also be watching to see who is a spoiler – a party that jumps into bed with another merely to wreck an administration down the line.

Political leaders will need to be very careful about their actions. People’s lives are in their hands.

The End of Impunity

These local elections reminded us of a key aspect of why we go through this ritual every five years. We do not merely vote for policies.

We also vote because we assess how those we have voted for have done.

The ANC at national level has been disastrous to say the least. The economy has ground to a halt. Unemployment is horrendous. Inequality is the worst in the world. Corruption hangs like a miasma over the head of the president, many in his cabinet and his family. This sterling record of failure was achieved within just seven years of the Zuma administration.

Urban voters essentially told Zuma and his cronies that they must go jump in the lake. Many did it by staying at home rather than vote for an opposition parties. Their inaction is a long speech in itself. They are done, finished, kaput.

Credibility

Despite the glitches, the IEC was magnificent. Thank you Glen Mashinini and your team of thousands.

Keep this institution credible, strong and independent.

Something To Believe In

You might want to reflect on the rise of the Economic Freedom Fighters and why the party is so attractive to so many young people. I know exactly why the EFF is so attractive, so meaningful, to so many: it is relevant to their lives.

When I was a kid of about ten my brother, four years older than me, came over and told me about Ubuntu and Steve Biko. We were in Hammanskraal – a dry backwater where news was scarce and action of any sort was non-existent.

My brother didn't just tell me about what was known then as Black Power.

He also lived it. I remember now that on Friday afternoons he rushed from school to listen to the only reggae radio programme available at the time: an hour of pure joy as he imbibed the words of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and others.

The SABC of the time didn't seem to realize that revolution was the language of reggae. What I am saying is this: my brother was a believer.

He believed in a struggle for a better world, a more humane world, where black people loved themselves and saw themselves fully humanised.

You have to believe. What do ANC members believe in?

In the 1980s, gender activists in the ANC believed in the theory of triple oppression: that they were enslaved as women, as workers and as blacks.

Those who believed in gender equity believed passionately in this theory.

So think about what happened at the IEC on Saturday evening. When Zuma was confronted with a silent protest against rape culture by gender (and EFF) activists, it was three women – ANC Women's League president Bathabile Dlamini, ministers Nomvula Mokonyane and Lindiwe Zulu – who led the charge against the protesters.

What do these women believe in? They believe in Jacob Zuma and will do anything to protect him, as they did on Saturday evening. There were many male ANC leaders at the IEC that evening, and none of them did anything to protect Zuma.

So what, if you are a young woman in SA today, is there to believe in in the ANC? That it would protect you and the thousands of other women violated in SA every year?

In a world where the so-called “leader of society” has become a reactionary, sexist, racist, undemocratic force led by a giggling male chauvinist, the EFF gives young people something to believe in.

It gives them hope. It gives them an idea of a better, more equitable, world.

Young people want to believe in something greater than themselves, greater than all of us. The EFF gives to them what my brother showed me in Biko, Marley, Tambo and others.

That is why the EFF will grow.