Shifting political landscape: The rise of new parties

Mostly when Julius Malema and his close ally, Jacob Zuma, address the media, they tend to think they’re speaking to an audience of a stand-up comedy club that cannot see through the fog of their political humour-mongering.

While Malema can crack a joke about his opponents and still maintain a serious posture without even smiling, Zuma laughs a lot at his own jokes. The two appear to be gifted at misrepresenting the facts to journalists, with Malema mastering the political rhetoric and soundbite that excites some journalists.

He correctly said votes for his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) plummeted because Zuma supporters who left the ANC for EFF after Msholozi’s recalling, returned to him now that he had his own uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

That, indeed, makes sense. But where Malema seems to have missed the boat was to think that was the only reason the EFF shed votes. He doesn’t attribute his vote-shedding to his public statements that the EFF would open the borders to all African foreign nationals – illegal or not – should his party come into power.

According to Malema, if his stance was the reason he lost votes, so be it. If that were the case, “xenophobic” parties like Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA and Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA) would have increased their votes.

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But how does Malema read things? Can’t he see that the PA and ActionSA, both contesting nationally for the first time, have gained huge votes to become the sixth- and eighth-largest parties, respectively, in parliament? This is testament to the acceptance of their antiillegal migrant stance by the electorate.

The two appear to be the parties of the future – and they threaten the EFF, which has begun to unravel, albeit, slightly.

McKenzie and Mashaba have conquered older parliamentary parties like the African Christian Democratic Party, United Democratic Movement, African Transformation Movement and Al Jama-ah, while Good Party and the Pan Africanist Congress are far behind these newcomers.

McKenzie outperformed even veteran Pieter Groenewald’s Freedom Front in the electoral stakes.

Mashaba and McKenzie’s “xenophobia” has paid dividends. They could read the voter’s mood on illegal migrants – an issue the ANC underestimated when it unwisely opted be the only African country to keep borders porous.

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They should have heard voices like that of a pensioner I eavesdropped on in Jouberton, Klerksdorp, whom I established was a disgruntled ANC voter due to the party’s poor immigration policy.

Sitting and politicking with a small group of other pensioners, the old lady was clear about her hatred of ANC’s lack of control at borders and EFF’s to plan to open up everything.

I asked which party she would be voting for. “Herman Mashaba,” was her short answer. That’s how ActionSA got its higher marks.

McKenzie’s message seems to have resonated with coloured voters, mostly in the Western Cape, which is understandable.

They have finally found a political home, and understand the PA’s slogan Ons baiza nie [we don’t fool around].

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As a result, the PA has become not only a kingmaker in Gauteng metros and Nelson Mandela Bay, but a new crowner in the National Assembly.

Since the demise of Dr Allan Hendrickse’s Labour Party, coloured voters hopped from one party to another.

Many landed in the now defunct National Party, complete with its apartheid policies, and then the DA, with Tony Leon’s “fight back” strategy, which the ANC deliberately translated to “fight blacks”. Now they seem to have consolidated themselves under the PA.

An interesting development in the 2024 elections is that most of the top six parties are not safe in their new positions in future elections.

Unless something drastic happens, the ANC’s downward spiral will continue in future polls, the DA faces a real threat from MK for the second spot, while EFF has many parties breathing down its neck.

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