THE writing is definitely now on the wall that South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) has lost its parliamentary majority, managing to garner a miserable 40% of the national vote with the rest going to the opposition.
While many may be shocked that the ANC, which crushed the minority white apartheid rule 30 years ago, has lost significant favour of the electorate, some of us truly believe that what has happened in the Rainbow Nation is the healthiest thing to happen in any so-called democracy.
There is a strange disease which has long afflicted Africa that a party which helped bring majority rule to any country on the continent should rule forever. Politically, however, this is most unhealthy because it breeds a warped sense of entitlement which has resulted in massive proliferation of corruption, unemployment and crime in many countries, three ills that saw the ANC lose favour with the voters this term.
We, therefore, eagerly wait to see South Africa’s first coalition government at play as that country charts a new democracy trajectory.
As we eagerly wait to see how the ANC navigates this new unchartered territory we sincerely hope that no funny characters in the mould of the self-proclaimed Citizens Coalition for Change interim secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu will emerge from the woodworks to cause chaos in South Africa.
South African went to the polls and decided and the ANC should accept the reality it now faces and not be tempted to regain its lost majority by hook and crook. The ANC should start planning for the next election and endear itself to the voters by correcting its mistakes.
We also believe that the ANC, being southern Africa’s oldest pan-African political establishment, should lead by example by gracefully accepting the new status quo. This should be a learning curve for South Africa’s peers in the region and beyond that in politics defeat is part of the game.
Formed in 1912 in Bloemfontein as the South African Native National Congress, the ANC was formed to advocate for the rights of black South Africans and in 1948 when the white minority National Party government came to power, the ANC's major thrust was to oppose the new government’s policy of institutionalised apartheid.
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So, indeed, the ANC has a fine history, which, however, does not give it the right to rule forever even when it messes up.
South Africa’s election results definitely usher a new dawn in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) area and we foresee the poll outcome ruffling feathers in the Sadc region where we have countries like Zimbabwe whose ruling establishment would not entertain what has just happened in South Africa.
In Zimbabwe this would be taboo and not tolerated as the 2023 polls showed whereby an individual was allowed to wake up and single-handedly recall opposition legislators and councillors who had been democratically voted for, albeit in an unfair and not so free election.
What happened in Zimbabwe following last year’s elections was downright embarrassing, but the ruling Zanu PF party, after a bad performance at the polls, was overjoyed to regain a two-thirds majority in Parliament through assistance from Tshabangu.
Things must change in Sadc and South Africa is the best candidate to lead the way.
