{"id":132824,"date":"2016-08-09T17:27:14","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T15:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=132824"},"modified":"2016-08-09T17:27:14","modified_gmt":"2016-08-09T15:27:14","slug":"message-to-white-south-african-voters-keep-calm-and-shut-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/132824\/message-to-white-south-african-voters-keep-calm-and-shut-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Message to white South African voters: Keep calm \u2026 and shut up"},"content":{"rendered":"

We the South African voters have spoken<\/a> in the local government election, and we said many different things. Let\u2019s give votes and cities (in part or whole) to the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA). Let\u2019s give some votes<\/a> and the municipality where President Jacob Zuma\u2019s homestead of Nkandla<\/a> is situated to the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).<\/p>\n

Also, let\u2019s give some votes but no cities to the militant Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)<\/a>, and small parcels of votes to many, many others.<\/p>\n

We as voters have embraced pluralism and competition. It seems to have come as something of a shock to the leaders of the African National Congress (ANC), for some reason. Perhaps the hefty R1 billion<\/a> the ANC used for campaigning would be better spent on some decent polling.<\/p>\n

We also said, as an electorate, let\u2019s take votes \u2013 and cities \u2013 away from the ANC. Whether the various parties of the opposition attracted our votes, or the ANC leadership repelled us and our votes through their arrogance and brazen corruption<\/a>, remains a key research question facing academics and politicians.<\/p>\n

For local governments in the country\u2019s wealthiest province of Gauteng<\/a>, in particular, where delivery has been way above the national average, this is a gloomy question. Where did all that hard work go? Was it simply insufficient for a 21st-century \u201cworld-class\u201d set of cities?<\/p>\n

Why did national credit downgrading<\/a> matter so much to everyone, but city upgrading by the same agencies of Johannesburg to AA1 status<\/a> mattered not a jot?<\/p>\n

Bluntly, did the rot from the centre suppurate through to voters who may otherwise have rated the metropole of Johannesburg, its mayor Parks Tau<\/a> and members of the mayoral committee (MMCs<\/a>) as working well for us? Did we throw out the Tau with the bathwater, in anger and frustration at his ANC overlords?<\/p>\n

This question \u2013 of blame, simply put \u2013 is likely to be at the heart of post-election ANC manoeuvring. Whether the interests of voters will be taken into account is an open question.<\/p>\n

Free and fair and (too) fast<\/h3>\n

To add hubris to the mess, the Independent Electoral Commission<\/a> (IEC) was brazen enough to host an end-of-election event, declaring the entire endeavour free and fair. This, even while the vote<\/a> for the economic and provincial capital, Johannesburg, remained incomplete and subject to dispute in multiple wards. Really?<\/p>\n

The audacity of the IEC was breathtaking. It would be rather like the Brexit vote being declared while still counting the London votes.<\/p>\n

Twitterati breathlessly told us that the IEC emerged from the election well, with its reputation regained after its own tango with corruption<\/a> and maladministration. Apparently our appetite for a clean institution is so large and urgent that we are willing to allow such incidents to occur, relieved that at least most of the vote had been free and fair, and the IEC seemed to smell of roses.<\/p>\n

Then the young women of the EFF stood in mute protest<\/a> as Zuma spoke at the IEC election centre after the polls in Pretoria. They reminded us of the rape charge and trial<\/a> of the president a decade ago (he was acquitted), asking profound questions about the moral basis of leadership \u2013 and did so just metres away from Zuma, while he bumbled through the usual pleasantries of a captain watching his ship sinking while trying to keep the passengers calm.<\/p>\n

Zuma\u2019s security detail \u2013 presumably gobsmacked<\/a> that these young women completely outmanoeuvred their assumed tactical astuteness and training and little plastic ear wires and big guns \u2013 were rather less presidential in their handling of the young women.<\/p>\n

Strong men shoving around young women \u2013 the tableaux acted out exactly what the women were protesting. The women are university students, doing what students do best \u2013 cocking a snoop at authority in pursuit of their beliefs. Setting a rather presidential example, it may be noted.
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