ANC set for sweeping victory in SA poll
President Thabo Mbeki’s African National Congress is poised to retain – or even increase – its sweeping majority in tomorrow’s national election in South Africa.
While the outcome is certain, political leaders worry that interest in the democratic process is waning a decade after South Africa’s first all-race vote ended close to half a century of oppressive white minority rule.
The number of voters who showed up at the polls dropped for the second democratic election in 1999, and a further decrease is expected this time to choose a new national parliament and provincial assemblies.
Lingering poverty and unemployment, along with crime, corruption and a devastating Aids epidemic, appear to be wearing away the sheen on South Africa’s young democracy.
“Standing on the sidelines, failing to go to the polls, is a neglect of the democratic duty,” Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid legend who became South Africa’s first black president, warned an overflowing ANC election rally.
“And in our case in South Africa, it can be read to signal disregard for the hard and painful struggles that went into bringing about democracy.”
In an unusual door-to-door campaign from squalid shacks to comfortable middle-class living rooms, Mandela’s successor has accentuated the ANC’s achievements and asked supporters to be patient.
The Government has built 1.6 million houses, brought clean water to nine million more people and now delivers electricity to 70% of homes. The former socialist party has revived an ailing economy and lifted the country from diplomatic isolation to take a leading role in African affairs.
Above all, the ANC has presided over a peaceful transition to majority rule hailed as a miracle.
Lunga Makoe, a 25-year-old security guard, was only a child under apartheid but still remembers its horrors.
“My older brothers were shot with rubber bullets and beaten by police,” he said. “This is why we must all vote. We can never live like that again.”
Opponents led by the Democratic Alliance, expected to finish a distant second, accuse Mbeki and the ANC of mishandling the Aids crisis, neglecting to crack down on corruption and crime, and failing to create jobs in the new “rainbow nation”.
While a new black elite is changing the face of South African suburbs and boardrooms, life has changed little for millions still trapped in crowded townships and isolated villages.
Unemployment of more than 30% has hit poorly educated blacks hard, and the gap between rich and poor is increasing. An estimated 5.3 million South Africans are infected with HIV, more than in any other country.
More than 20 million of the 45 million population have registered to vote for a 400-member National Assembly, which will then choose a president.
Nine provincial assemblies will also be elected and will in turn select delegates to the 90-member National Council of Provinces, parliament’s second chamber.
The ANC has strong support from the 80% black majority and seeks a two-thirds majority in parliament, enough to amend the constitution. It barely missed the threshold last time.
