The ANC is trying to win over minority communities in the hope that their votes will influence the outcome of next year’s general elections.
The party’s think tank is convinced that the minority vote could tilt the scale in its favour and arrest the declining electoral support.
The heart of the election strategy is to rekindle and mobilise the Indian, coloured, Chinese and white populations support, as well as traditional communities.
The party admits it has been on a sharp decline, contributing significantly to its electoral misfortunes.
The governing party’s neglect of communities in Lenasia, Westbury, and Fordsburg in Gauteng has created opportunities for parties such as the Patriotic Alliance and Al Jammah to occupy the space. In the predominantly coloured Western Cape province, the ANC has all but conceded to the opposition DA’s dominance.
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said Luthuli House highlighted the need for the ANC to strongly reconnect with all cultural and linguistic constituencies.
“The ANC has always enjoyed very strong relations with the progressive Indian community in this regard,” Bhengu-Motsiri said, after the national working committee’s visit to KwaZulu-Natal.
The working committee’s visit was meant, among others, to counter the IFP’s resurgence, mainly during the 2021 municipal elections. The IFP snatched several councils from the governing party.
While the ANC once received steady electoral support from Indian communities which form a huge chunk of the KwaZulu-Natal population, this has dwindled over the years.
There was also anger following Ravi Pillay’s recall as finance MEC. He was the only Indian in the provincial cabinet.
In the eThekwini metro, long-serving council speaker Logi Naidoo was also given his marching orders, creating more resentment among Indian voters.
Following the 2021 Phoenix killings, more Indian voters joined the DA, mainly because of its campaign. While they were viewed as racists by other political parties in the aftermath of the riots, the DA stood in solidarity with them.
Last week during the United Democratic Front (UDF) celebration in Johannesburg, President Cyril Ramaphosa said many coloured and Indian compatriots who were the backbone of the UDF felt excluded from the nation’s political life.
Ramaphosa said the minority groups pointed to their under-representation in decision-making structures as evidence of this.
He added: “Many white South Africans wrongly believe there is no place for them in South Africa today, and some have drifted towards laager-style politics and a siege mentality”.
But, he said, by far those who felt most excluded and neglected were the urban and rural poor, the unemployed and society’s most vulnerable.
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