Uncertainty is certain in 2019 election
What is sure is the inevitable fact that there will be racist and populist grandstanding ahead, to secure votes.
A woman stands outside her family’s home near an African National Congress election campaign poster in Bekkersdal near Johannesburg, South Africa, 06 May 2014. The township has been the scene of violent service delivery protests. Picture: EPA/KIM LUDBROOK
The predictions are that the ANC – the party of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo and the one which assumes for itself the mantle of “liberator” of this country – will, for the first time, fall below the 60% mark in next year’s national election.
According to an opinion poll this month by the Institute of Race Relations, if there is a 69% turnout at next year’s polls, the ANC could get just 59% of the votes, which is well down from the heights of above 60% it enjoyed in previous elections.
Projections are that the Democratic Alliance (DA) could get 22% in 2019 and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) 11%. Only time will tell what the final result is – but one thing which is certain about next year is the uncertainty.
Will the EFF actually do much better than is predicted and overtake the DA as parliamentary opposition?
Will the DA implode?
Will an outsider party like Congress of the People make gains through its appeal to white voters?
It would all be a fascinating tussle to contemplate, were it not for the inevitable fact that there will be racist and populist grandstanding ahead, to secure votes.
And that will broaden the divides in our society, rather than close them.
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