In a shock result, the ANC has lost the 4th General Election in South Africa on 22 April.
Political analysts were all caught short in their predictions - that the ANC would win handsomely.
It seems that the ANC misjudged its voters and was not in step with the populations aspirations. It is now apparent that the South African voter decided to have a courageous conversation with the ANC-run Government and told it that it was found wanting. It appears that the ANC didn't realise that the SA voter is more intelligent than it it was given credit for. And best of all, South Africans have a moral compass that is pointing true north and it won't be taken off course. In short, South Africans are tired of non-delivery, unkept promises and corruption.
There are a number of reasons for the ANC's downfall. The reality is that freedom in 1994 came at a price. Many promises made 15 years ago have not been forthcoming. The people are tired of Apartheid being blamed when it is apparent that the blame lies squarely at the feet of those running SA. People still don't have adequate housing, jobs, medical care, water and food. And of course, the electricity crisis which Eskom warned the Government about many years ago ... only to fall on deaf ears. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Here's a short and incomplete history of some of the other issues that led to the ANC's downfall:
The South African Defence Force
Since the ANC-led Government has taken over the Defence Force, it has become a joke. It culled more than 40 000 jobs. And, then cried foul when highly trained soldiers ply their trade in other areas in the world. What other jobs were offered to them? Surely the ANC didn't expect them to tend their gardens and just disappear?
The SA Government propped up the "democratically elected" Lesotho prime minister, Pakalitha Mosisili by sending in SA troops on September 22, 1998 to quell a potential coup. This move to prop up a discredited government was supported by SADC. Admittedly, Acting President (and leader of the IFP) Mangosuthu Buthelezi gave the green light for the attack. That's what happens when you hand over the reigns to a warrior.
History proves that the small Lesotho army put up a valiant resistance and forced the Defence Force to send in 450 reinforcements to bolster the 700 + troops already in the country. SA lost 9 or 10 of its sons that day, whilst in the region of 113 Lesotho citizens were killed; 47 of those were civilians.
Calls have been made to invade Zimbabwe to remove cheating Robert Mugabe from power. SADC in general, and South Africa in particular, is opting for a political solution. Reason being is that if it did try and invade Zimbabwe it would fail miserably. Zimbabwe's ill-equipped army would hammer us. And, maybe they're not that ill-equipped since cozying up to their new buddies, China. Our defence force would also fail because we removed 40 000 of our top military minds. The lessons of Stalin and his purges weren't heeded. He got rid of almost 1 million officers and suffered massive defeats at the hands of the Germans (initially) because there was no-one to lead.
The Arms Deal - who will forget this ill-fated R30-billion shopping expedition which has brought the entire government into disrepute and made South Africa the laughing stock of the military world. We've bought submarines that don't work. And why did we buy them ... to stop poachers from fishing out our seas. Kind of like bringing a cannon to a fist fight.
Travelgate (2000 - ?)
Some travel agents and allegedly more than 100 members of parliament stole up to R36 million in a travel scam from Parliament. Admittedly, not only ANC members were implicated - a number of members from other parties were also implicated. In the end, only a handful of MPs were brought to book (acting as fall guys for the majority). They were told to pay back monies owed. Of course, they didn't have to pay back the full amount they owed. It was a payment plan from R200 a month for as long as it took to pay back the funds. And, as everyone knows, some, if not all of these fall guys have been let off the hook and don't have to pay any monies back.
Rampant Crime
Crime is still rife, no matter what kind of rosy spin the government is trying to put on it. Every right-minded SA citizen is suffering under its yoke.
Criminals that are injured when captured, get top-notch hospital treatment paid for with our tax Rands. Whilst, victims who are injured have to pay their own way ... often bankrupting the families involved.
SA has a Police Commissioner that has been put on long-leave (and being paid for it out of taxpayer's money (that's you) because he is suspected of having underworld links.
At every turn one hears of corrupt police officials soliciting bribes from motorists and innocent citizens.
We have cops, ministers and judges driving drunk and getting away with it even when they have put others at risk.
Criminal Nation
The licensing debacle has turned South Africans into a criminal nation. Almost 50% of our citizens are driving on our roads without a license or with an illegal license. Now, it's not that they want to drive without licenses ... it's damn near impossible to get a license. One cannot get through to the call centre, cannot get a license date, etc. The queues aren't processed quickly enough and people stand for 8 hours and then leave empty-handed. That what happens when one rips out a working, effective civil service and put in incompetents.
Beggar Nation
South Africa became a beggar nation under the ANC-led Government. At most main intersection in our country, we see the evidence of this. Beggars, mothers and children, children ... glue-sucked into oblivion. We're tired of throwing our Judas silver at them, hoping the problem will go away. Lack of jobs and funds is the reason for this. The rot started when Jay Naidoo ran the RDP fund. Government forced foreign donors like the European Union to pay funds into its coffers that would normally have gone straight to the Non-Government Organisations helping street kids, the homeless and destitute. In theory, the RDP fund would then distribute those monies to the relevant charity. In practice, this never happened and the money was kept or was distributed to the comrades. Jay Naidoo, we salute you ... not. Another blot on the Rosharch stained pages of the ANC-controlled government.
Police State
Government ministers drive in "blue light" convoys pushing people off the road and in some cases shooting motorists that get too near the convoy. They're always rushing somewhere because they're always late ... could it be something to do with "African time"? Bottom line is that our citizens don't like being bullied. We are not in some kind of dictatorship (yet).
The Scorpions
The plug was pulled on the Scorpions this year. General consensus is that they were getting too close to exposing corrupt Government officials right up to the highest office.
HIV AIDS
Families have been ripped apart by the tragedy that is AIDS. Former President, Thabo Mbeki and his hench woman, the former Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and their denialist policies have in real terms ripped the fabric of society apart. Where in the world are 7-year-old childen suddenly the "head of the house"? This genocide will be answered one day. It would be no surprise if Mbeki and Msimang have a class action suit against them charging them with genocide and crimes against humanity. Beetroot is not going to cut it.
Education is going to cut it. In a country where uneducated barbarians believe that having intercourse with a virgin (child) will cure one of aids, education is definitely needed.
Of course when Jacob Zuma has a shower to wash off the virus after he slept with an HIV-infected woman, what kind of message does that send to the uneducated masses? You work it out.
Back to Msimang. Jumping the cue to replace her alcohol-riddled liver with a healthy one was just not cricket, was it? One guess as to who pulled some serious strings? And, let's not even get into the alleged theft of a watch when she was a nurse - from a patient, nogal! And, in her ill-fated reign our hospitals have been left in tatters. God help Barbara Hogan, she's going to need all the help she can get to sort out this travesty.
Polokwane
The ANC's Polokwane Conference in December 2007 was the death knell for the party. The party was split in half. Thabo Mbeki was ousted as president of the ANC and Jacob Zuma became the favoured son. The Rand plummeted.
Following Polokwane, Thabo Mbeki was removed as President of the country and replaced by a a nice guy who is boxing way above his weight class - Kgalema Motlanthe. A wise ANC would have left Mbeki in until the 22 April 2009 elections. But, nobody ever accused the ANC of being wise. Its Et tu Brute style didn't endear them to anyone. They took down their Caesar without an ounce of conscience.
Of course, the ghost of Polokwane and the axing of Thabo Mbeki has led to a new political party - COPE. This movement helped break the ANC stranglehold.
Dumb Nation
Our Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor has failed the youth of South Africa. She couldn't even get matric results out on time. To date, students still don't know whether they passed or failed. Of course, passing and failing is a relative concept in this already bleeding country. South Africa is set to become the dumbest nation in Africa, if not the world. Our standards have dropped so low that it is embarrassing. You can now get a university exemption with a 30 to 40% matric pass. Good grief, before 1994, you were thought to be stupid, lazy and incompetent if you got 50% on higher grade.
Vote Rigging
The ANC was caught with its pants down by attempting to excluding South Africans that are overseas from voting. Their bluff was called and the Constitutional Court ruled this unconstitutional. The 1,5-million South Africans that are overseas managed to vote and this helped break the ANC stranglehold.
Zimbabwe
The South African government and its toothless tiger, SADC have let the people of Zimbabwe down. History will judge us as being complicit in a mass genocide and supporting a dictator. Of course the reason no action has been taken against Robert Mugabe and his murderous band of thugs is because few in SADC are clean. It has its own house of dictators. All Robert Mugabe has to do is quote from the bible and he neuters SADC: "Take the log out of your eye before you take the splinter out of mine." Or, put another way, "Don't throw stones if you live in glass houses." The citizens of South Africa are disgusted by the way the SA Government has dealt with the issue. It has blood on its hands. Talking about hands - the sight of both Presidents Mbeki and Motlanthe holding hands with Mugabe, really galled the South African populace. It wouldn't have been so bad if they'd also waltzed down the aisle with the MDC's Morgan Tshangari. There definitely seems to be a bias towards Mugabe. And, South Africans knew it and were humiliated. The more than 3 000 deaths (and counting) from cholera added more fuel to the fire. Of course, that cholera came to SA and killed our people definitely hurt.
Jacob Zuma
He is much-loved and with good reason: he has a charisma that is hard to beat. He is also owed a debt of gratitude for being the chief architect of the end of the bloody civil war in KwaZulu Natal between Inkatha and the ANC.
But, some of his thought-processes left the people of SA gasping.
To willingly have sex with an HIV-positive woman - this is a person who is not afraid to take massive risks. Do we want someone like that running our country? Our economy could be in tatters and we'd probably try and invade Swaziland. Just running his households ... six wives and their resultant offspring could bankrupt the country.
To still be standing for President with the corruption cloud hanging over him was beyond unbelievable. All civilised nations, except for France (who also turn a blind eye to mistresses, concubines and corruption) expect someone to step down until he is proved either innocent or guilty. The intelligent in the ANC must be choking, but they have to stick to the party line and support a Zuma Presidency, don't they, Carl Niehaus?
Julius Malema
He has done more damage to the ANC than anyone else. His thoughtless, hysterical, vitriolic outbursts made right-thinking citizens uncomfortable. He is the poster child for the Dumb Nation the ANC has designed. Yet his handlers wouldn't or couldn't rein him in. They created a Frankenstein that they couldn't control. He even attacked his own party in the form of Naledi Pandor. All the neutered and long-suffering Gwede Mantashe could say was that Malema would be publicly reprimanded for this slight. If the ANC had fired this petulant dimwit, it would have brought back the voice of reason and would have won them the election. That they neither had the political will, nor the backbone to have a courageous conversation with this parody of a human being and bullet him, will haunt the ANC and its tattered remains forever.
What the electorate loves about the ANC
Nelson Mandela (who, is hands down the greatest South African to have lived), Carl Niehaus (who is too bright to be in the ANC and must be wondering when he can get out of this crazy rabbit hole), Barbara Hogan (we're hoping she'll prove a lot better than a predecessor), Trevor Manuel (who married the love of his life and let us believe in romance again), Julius Malema (since George Bush has left office, we now have a new mampara to focus on), Jessie Duarte (who is too honest to be a spin doctor and it shows)
This article was written by Alice in Wonderland Press who believes that South Africa is well and truly in the crazy rabbit hole
Good post. This can actually happen if voters were to think with their heads instead of ...
Anyway, we hope that if this happen, the ANC will hand over power peacefully.
Posted by: The Spear | February 11, 2009 at 01:44 PM
Unfortunately, the ANC would not go quietly into the night. Intimidating and disrupting COPE meetings don't auger well for a peaceful transition. But, I do believe there are some bright minds in the ANC that must be applying those minds to the problem that some of their immature and barbaric voters are causing to the image of the party. For the right-thinking members of the ANC, the corruption that is rife in the party must be a worry. The intolerance must be a worry. The racism in their own party, must irk them.
Posted by: Jacques de Villiers | February 11, 2009 at 10:02 PM