The ANC is holding a national executive meeting on Thursday to give a final word on preferred coalition partners for the hung central and provincial governments. And if one person should be heard in this meeting, it’s the pint-sized former KwaZulu-Natal premier, Sihle Zikalala.
Even if it means someone getting him a 25-litre paint bucket to stand on, then let it be what it would take for his voice to be heard.
Zikalala spelled out the ANC’s key problem when he lost power to the lost generation that took over the reins of the government party in KwaZulu-Natal after him. It was sometime in the winter of July 2022, during his penultimate political report.
He contested the popular narrative that all the ANC has to do to return to its former glory days is get rid of corrupt elements within its ranks.
More focus on service delivery than on corruption
The people out there are more worried about effective service delivery than petty squabbles about whose time it is to eat. Which is what the entire corruption crusade that Ramaphosa has donned as his presidential legacy simply amounts to.
Zikalala rejected the idea that corruption should be the primary focus of South African politics.
By the way, this narrative was first born when the DA accused outgoing cooperative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. It accused her of squandering the public funds linked to a Sarafina! project back when she was running the Arts and Culture portfolio.
And the DA, which has been running with this “corrupt ANC” theme since then, in 1996 when Nelson Mandela was president, is now eager to reap the benefits of the political strategy.
Especially after the Ramaphosa administration broke ranks with his predecessors and declared the ANC accused no. 1 of corruption. This strategy, owned by Ramaphosa, has consistently resulted in the ANC losing votes election after election.
However, even after the catastrophic May 29 elections, the party still maintains the belief that losing votes today guarantees victory tomorrow. It’s a political strategy that leaves you scratching the head.
Strategy of ‘loss today means victory tomorrow’
Despite a steady decline in voter support under Ramaphosa’s administration, the ANC is doubling down on the very leader who seems to be steering them off a cliff. Why?
“The less people vote for us, the more they’ll miss us when we’re gone,” perhaps ANC strategists believe.
“It’s basic human psychology. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Or as former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo once said: “it is the essence of the absence of presence.”
Remember the early days of Ramaphoria? Back then, he was the knight in shining armour. He was ready to rescue South Africa from the depths of despair and corruption. Those were the good times, filled with promises of a new dawn. Only for the sun to set remarkably quickly.
As the unemployment rate soared, the economy tanked, and Eskom continued to play hide-and-seek with electricity. The ANC had an epiphany: Why not lean into the chaos?
But desperation has a funny way of making people do irrational things. Like ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, trying to persuade the “motive forces” that co-governing with the DA and the spice of other parties is intended to defend the national democratic revolution.
Clearly, after careful consideration, the ANC still came to the conclusion that no one champions electoral decline quite like Ramaphosa. So why not give him another shot?
Reverse psychology
To be fair, it looks like the ANC’s new campaign strategy is essentially rooted in reverse psychology. By showcasing how bad things can get, they believe voters will come running back, arms wide open, begging for the good old days — whenever those were.
It’s like when you’re in a bad relationship. You don’t realise how good you had it until you swipe right on a few new disasters. The ANC is just giving the voters a taste of what they could be missing.
Well, at least that’s true in a world where up is down and losing is the new winning. The ANC is throwing all its weight behind Ramaphosa for a second term. Nothing screams stability and progress like a healthy dose of managed decline.
Of course, the ANC’s bizarre strategy might just work. After all, nothing brings people together like shared adversity.
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lies lies and more lies infact Anc will never ever recover