SA’s political upstarts are showing up the big dogs. Here’s why

Despite the old guard in the ANC and DA still walking away with most of the spoils, it is the smaller parties and independent candidates who have stolen the show in the 2021 local government election.

Wards across the country are being won by what promises to be an unprecedented number of debutants and political parties that are only a few years old. The ANC and DA have seen scores of wards taken from them by smaller parties and independent candidates across the country.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has further solidified its third place, having shown the most growth in the preliminary results released by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Back to basics

While support for ActionSA has been bolstered by the popularity of former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, other small, local organisations won the hearts of their communities by taking service delivery into their own hands.

In Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality in the Free State, Map16 Civic Movement (Map16) a breakaway party founded by ousted ANC members spearheaded the municipality-wide fight against power cuts by state utility Eskom this year.

Maluti-a-Phofung, once an ANC stronghold, has seen residents rise up over water and electricity issues.

The municipality took Eskom to court last year, successfully challenging the attachment of one of its bank accounts over unpaid debt worth over R5 billion. Map16 has celebrated winning at least two wards so far in the 2021 poll.

The Freedom Front Plus has also made strides in former DA strongholds, owing its success to an apparent awakening by the electorate to more choices for opposition parties other than the DA. So says party leader Corné Mulder.

“I think we are succeeding in getting message across because people are beginning to understand that the electoral system better. Whereas before people have been made to believe that the only two choices are the ANC and the EFF, people are starting to seek alternatives and we have been able to provide that.”

Perfect timing

Carin Runciman, associate professor of sociology at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), concurs that voters appear to have sought political refuge outside of the mainstream, although it may have more to do with timing than any material differences provided by emerging parties.

“What the electorate is signalling is that they want change and that change is not necessarily associated with the governing party, but also some of the established opposition parties such as the DA and the EFF,” says Runciman.

ALSO READ: Elections 2021: Independent candidates good for democracy, but ‘not a solution’

“Particularly in the context of Covid-19 I think people who have been hardhit by the pandemic have been really searching for political bodies they believe will being positive change into their lives and in many cases this has meant searching out independent candidates and political parties that are outside the main opposition parties.”

This year’s election comes as the country is reeling from violent protests and widespread criticism against the ANC in its current form.

Supporters of former president Jacob Zuma, who blamed party leadership for his incarceration, were at the forefront of looting and vandalism sprees in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, where much of the decentralisation of ANC power has been seen.

Anger against the DA also arose from this violence after the party mounted posters in KZN, which appeared to support racially charged gun violence that killed around 300 people in Phoenix, Durban.

And on the eve of South Africa’s most contested local government election, stage 4 and stage 2 load shedding put a dampener on the electoral mood, garnering further criticism for the ANC.

simnikiweh@citizen.co.za