By Lukanyo Tshitshi
Several polls conducted in 2022 showed that the ruling party, ANC, could lose its power in 2024; however, a recent poll carried out by the Social Research Foundation indicates that the ANC will retain its majority with 52%.
The polls initially predicted that the ANC would drop from 57.5% to fall below 50% in 2024, which could be its first since 1994.
The coalition government could perhaps be favoured by the ANC’s rival parties, as seven opposition parties—DA, IFP, SAP, FF Plus, ActionSA, UIM, ISANCO—recently announced a coalition in a bid to unseat the ANC.
In a two-day convention held by seven opposition parties to form the multi-party charter ahead of 2024 national elections, the DA leader, John Steenhuisen, said the focus of their coalition is not only to unseat ANC but to offer South Africans a better way of living.
“we’ve signed an agreement today which is focussed not just getting ANC out of the office but putting on a table a workable alternative for many problems that south Africans face across the board from unemployment to crime to poverty to hunger” he said.
The growing criticism and opposition facing ANC due to its corruption scandals, policy failures, complex and multifaceted issues such as poverty, a high unemployment rate, blackouts, and inequality will influence voters’ behaviour.
Former President Thabo Mbeki also criticised his own ANC members, saying some members do not qualify to be part of the party’s NEC.
“What kind of leadership is going to emerge from there? There are many comrades saying If I am nominated, I am available please elect me and not one explains why they must be elected” he said.
The EFF leader, Julius Melema, has declared 2024 to be a year of change in South Africa.
“Next year 2024 is our 1994, that’s what the youth of South Africa should say. It’s a turning point where were going to take over government and restore it into the hands of the people, we don’t want this blackout of collapsed Eskom” he said.
Comments