VOTERS in Bekkersdal made their mark this week and overwhelmingly chose the African National Congress (ANC). This is despite violent service delivery protests that have taken place in the area since September last year.
Results by late on Thursday afternoon indicate that the ANC in the troubled Westonaria municipality took 68% of the vote. Opposition parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) lagged far behind, with 11.46% and 11.38% of the vote respectively.
Bekkersdal signifies a larger trend that was evident in the results streaming in at the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s command centre in Pretoria on Thursday: while many South Africans feel let down by the ruling party and have serious concerns that they want addressed, they continue to vote for the ANC and view the party as the only vehicle capable of addressing those concerns.
In Bekkersdal, an intervention by the tripartite alliance — the ANC, South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions — is where residents are putting their hope for their concerns over corruption and nepotism in the local municipality, and even in the provincial government, to be addressed.
The stoning of members of the ANC’s executive from the province in the area earlier this year was perceived as an attack on the ruling party, but members of the community have made a clear distinction between the government and the party. The leadership of the government and of the party in Gauteng are from two different camps and the community’s anger was directed pointedly at the state.
The ANC is often criticised for blurring the line between the state and the party, but to its followers and ordinary members in Bekkersdal, the two are clearly distinguishable.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe says the problem in South Africa is that every time people take to the streets in South Africa, it is described as a "service delivery protest", but often this characterisation is off the mark.
The most recent examples of this are in Bekkersdal, Bloemhof in North West and Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape.
"This confuses society," Mantashe says. "It is important to characterise them correctly. It distorts the image of government in society. Analysts are then surprised when the result shows a different story ."
In a national election, the ANC brand is difficult to match. The DA remains the only party that is growing — its showing in the 2009 election was 17% and it is expected to settle at about 22% this time around. But the distance between the DA and the ANC remains vast. The ruling party is expected to settle at about 63%.
Despite the intensity of the campaign in the run-up to the polls, all parties will have to go back to the drawing board, to find a way to dent the unmatchable brand of the continent’s oldest liberation movement.
But the ANC will also have to do some soul searching, particularly in the run-up to the local government elections of 2016. Its share of the vote in these elections is also likely to be a dip from 2009’s 66%.
Local level is where the ANC is at its weakest: this is where it is likely to be most vulnerable and where community anger can be harnessed to sway the balance of forces where they live.
While the ANC and the government have made many attempts to revitalise municipalities, they have failed to find the winning formula to stem the tide of corruption, maladministration and to tackle service delivery issues head on in local government. It even suggested this year that it would deploy some of its most senior leaders to this level of government in order to reverse the fortunes of municipalities across the country.
As the dust settles after the elections and the party returns to the business of governing, its focus should turn to communities such as Bekkersdal, where residents remain loyal to the party, despite their despair and the sense of abandonment by government officials in their area.
Voters queue in the Bekkersdal township on May 7 2014. Picture: AFP
VOTERS in Bekkersdal made their mark this week and overwhelmingly chose the African National Congress (ANC). This is despite violent service delivery protests that have taken place in the area since September last year.
Results by late on Thursday afternoon indicate that the ANC in the troubled Westonaria municipality took 68% of the vote. Opposition parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) lagged far behind, with 11.46% and 11.38% of the vote respectively.
Bekkersdal signifies a larger trend that was evident in the results streaming in at the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s command centre in Pretoria on Thursday: while many South Africans feel let down by the ruling party and have serious concerns that they want addressed, they continue to vote for the ANC and view the party as the only vehicle capable of addressing those concerns.
In Bekkersdal, an intervention by the tripartite alliance — the ANC, South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions — is where residents are putting their hope for their concerns over corruption and nepotism in the local municipality, and even in the provincial government, to be addressed.
The stoning of members of the ANC’s executive from the province in the area earlier this year was perceived as an attack on the ruling party, but members of the community have made a clear distinction between the government and the party. The leadership of the government and of the party in Gauteng are from two different camps and the community’s anger was directed pointedly at the state.
The ANC is often criticised for blurring the line between the state and the party, but to its followers and ordinary members in Bekkersdal, the two are clearly distinguishable.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe says the problem in South Africa is that every time people take to the streets in South Africa, it is described as a "service delivery protest", but often this characterisation is off the mark.
The most recent examples of this are in Bekkersdal, Bloemhof in North West and Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape.
"This confuses society," Mantashe says. "It is important to characterise them correctly. It distorts the image of government in society. Analysts are then surprised when the result shows a different story ."
In a national election, the ANC brand is difficult to match. The DA remains the only party that is growing — its showing in the 2009 election was 17% and it is expected to settle at about 22% this time around. But the distance between the DA and the ANC remains vast. The ruling party is expected to settle at about 63%.
Despite the intensity of the campaign in the run-up to the polls, all parties will have to go back to the drawing board, to find a way to dent the unmatchable brand of the continent’s oldest liberation movement.
But the ANC will also have to do some soul searching, particularly in the run-up to the local government elections of 2016. Its share of the vote in these elections is also likely to be a dip from 2009’s 66%.
Local level is where the ANC is at its weakest: this is where it is likely to be most vulnerable and where community anger can be harnessed to sway the balance of forces where they live.
While the ANC and the government have made many attempts to revitalise municipalities, they have failed to find the winning formula to stem the tide of corruption, maladministration and to tackle service delivery issues head on in local government. It even suggested this year that it would deploy some of its most senior leaders to this level of government in order to reverse the fortunes of municipalities across the country.
As the dust settles after the elections and the party returns to the business of governing, its focus should turn to communities such as Bekkersdal, where residents remain loyal to the party, despite their despair and the sense of abandonment by government officials in their area.
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