Elections come at the right time

A month from now, votes from our seventh democratic elections will be in and the laborious process of counting the votes will be underway.

Yesterday marked exactly one month until the 29 May general election. Be ready for a month of free T-shirts, unrealistic promises and finger-pointing from opposition parties as it nears.

It may be relatively quiet now as politicians fight for your vote, but expect it to get louder and dirtier as we move closer to the ballot box.

You’d think three decades into our democracy there would be consistency before the polls, but there’s uncertainty and nervous energy as a nation grows tired of the same nonsense being spat out by politicians and very little action when it comes to service delivery.

Voters have had enough, but whether they will follow through on their threats to teach those in power remains to be seen.

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Various recent polls have the ruling ANC well below 50% – in fact more around 40% in some instances – but elections are rarely accurately predicted, no matter how carefully these surveys are carried out.

Also, the ANC will move into overdrive over the next month and pull back some support, relying on historical change it brought about, not the current situation.

That said, many do believe the ANC will feel the pain come election time as its historical majority makes way to national and provincial coalition deal-making.

How well the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, will fare, especially in its stronghold in the Western Cape, is another talking point; like how much of disruption will Jacob Zuma’s party, uMkhonto we Sizwe cause, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal? There are also many new parties, bringing new ideas.

Political analyst Daniel Silke warned: “These elections are happening at the worst possible time for the ANC, the economic plight of the country, the dismal performance on just about every measurement for South Africa, this represents a fail. It’s a fail notice for the ANC itself.”

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It seems the elections have come at exactly the right time, regardless of which political party is represented.