Campaigning on desperation will do ANC more harm than good

There is a 32-year-old man who is the mayor of the uMngeni local municipality. Christopher Pappas of the Democratic Alliance (DA) has been mayor at this municipality since 2021 – the first time the ruling ANC lost the KwaZulu-Natal municipality.

Since taking over, Pappas not only led the municipality to clearing its R12 million loan debt but has also led the uMngeni team to receiving an unqualified audit opinion from the auditor-general.

ALSO READ: DA member leaves party after homophobic slurs against Pappas

The clearing of the debt matters because it saved the municipality almost R500 000 a year in interest. And all that money now goes into service delivery. The municipality Pappas leads has 75% black residents, 20% white, 4% Indian and 1% coloured.

This should not matter in today’s South Africa but it is necessary to show that there has been a significant shift in voters’ profiles in the last three decades: voting along colour/ race lines is slowly but surely being cast aside in some areas of the country.

Voters in uMngeni are now happy that streetlights work and potholes are fixed, with very little concern about the skin colour of the mayor. And then Pappas was nominated as the DA’s KwaZulu-Natal premier candidate for the 2024 general election.

ALSO READ: ANC accuses DA’s Chris Pappas of ‘spousal nepotism’ ahead of election

To say the gloves of his opponents came off would be an understatement. His opponents included fellow DA member Graham McIntosh, who says he resigned because he believed that Pappas was flaunting his sexuality, which he believes is unnecessary.

Pappas has said that he believes he is the only gay mayor in Africa and McIntosh believes this is not necessary as it makes it difficult for him as a DA member to go into “black communities and campaign for Pappas because they will tell him but he wants to marry a man!”

McIntosh’s homophobic comments found an enthusiastic audience in his political opponents in the ANC, who decided to embark on some hastily organised protests against Pappas (on some alleged nepotism).

The protests were so hasty that the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) – under whose banner they were organised – overlooked a glaring spelling mistake of Pappas on their professionally printed placards: “Jail Passas”, they screamed.

ALSO READ: ANC will dull his shine: Is Pappas the future SA deserves but might never have?

This led to some social media commentators pointing out that there was, in fact, nothing wrong with the spelling error, it was just an indication of how the ANCYL’s mother body had been bad for the country in every respect, including dishing out poor education, with pupils who cannot spell.

The desperation with which the ruling party latched on to the condemnation of Pappas that started out as sentiments against his sexuality and morphed into some “you gave your boyfriend a tender”, is a good indication of what type of opposition politics the country will be in for in those areas that the ANC loses favour with the voters and the incoming party does an excellent job when they take over.

When there is nothing left to criticise, the weaker politician goes for what they believe will pass for an insult with the voter.

What they did not count on when they latched onto McIntosh’s homophobic comments is that the South African voter has matured over the last three decades of ANC misrule. The overwhelming sentiment on social media networks was one of “oh, we didn’t know he was gay until you pointed it out. We will still vote for him.”

ALSO READ: ANC Youth League roasted for their ‘arrest Passas now’ protest posters

Pappas probably won’t win the KwaZulu-Natal premiership but his party will get a share of that vote, weakening the ANC’s position.

Most importantly, though, what this storm around him demonstrates is that campaigning on desperation will do the ANC more harm than good.