The Local Government Elections are now done and dusted. All participants, be it political parties or independent candidates, are waiting with bated breath for the Independent Electrical Commission to announce the official results, hopefully before the weekend.
While the results are awaited, one thing is certain and that is the ruling party, the ANC, and the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, got a rude awakening when they lost a large percentage of their voters when compared to the 2016 elections.
As we await the final results, it’s a given that the ANC will amass less that 50% of the votes nationally and DA in the 20% region.
What’s the reasoning behind this?
It’s simple. All the promises these two parties made during the last elections have not been met. Service delivery issues such as lack of proper sanitation, non-availability of adequate water supply, no electricity and poor road infrastructure are some of the voters’ main gripes. Protest actions highlighted these displeasures.
Recently, I highlighted these shortcomings and predicted voters will rebel and not vote for the respective parties. My hunch proved correct.
Now that they failed to get outright majority, the next best thing for the ANC and DA is to form coalitions. And that is if the kingmakers are ready to reach deals with them. The EFF and ActionSA are the likely ones to be approached.
I hope the ANC and DA have learnt lessons from these elections results where their voters dumped them. Don’t make empty promises if you cannot deliver. The voters don’t forget and forgive.
Justin Moodley
