Image courtesy of Steve Conover's Flickr account - South Africa: https://www.flickr.com/photos/steveconover/848926240/in/photolist-2i1Ycj-7Sk2Ad-UZv8MN-iaB72J-pkCozD-6hdL8D-pkCq4a-7ZYVud-8i3azu-8fkwro-b73DsT-ecJw5f-bXices-8d3nKB-pC7uxS-b73D3i-igNgfg-9AgxuT-77AVxD-njXHLK-8hZgK6-4FHzzu-B937Z-5LwNLB-82aTKC-bTaUut-6AwopQ-8d1m4h-hULKbq-5QdshD-ddJrGd-7MWFV7-bEg7x7-b8AA22-8i2QqL-b73CWM-8i2JE5-8hYNvv-8hYcHX-8i31xN-8i2z4N-8i2uhw-8hYnXn-89HPtS-8hYmW8-4FDs4x-bXic9S-89Fhn4-89FinH-89JxFd
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There were important elections held yesterday in South Africa.
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) was trying to hold onto power, which they have held ever since replacing the last white minority apartheid government in 1994. Yet, many South Africans have grown skeptical of the ANC, as corruption and a general failure to live up to promises to gradually improve the lives of most blacks has made many impatient for another kind of change in the country.
Strangely, there is a growing trend in South Africa for whites, who traditionally have supported the Democratic Alliance, to gravitate towards the ANC, while many blacks, who traditionally have overwhelmingly supported the ANC, are beginning to show support for the Democratic Alliance. Here, according to Max Bearak of the Washington Post, is an illustration of that:
An increasing number of black voters feel that the ANC, the party of Nelson Mandela, has betrayed its quest for black empowerment and has become corrupt, nepotistic and mediocre. At the Democratic Alliance’s final campaign rally in Soweto, the vast suburb of Johannesburg that is home to mostly poor and middle-class black South Africans, the crowd was full of the disaffected.
He spoke to one black South African, who is a good example of the dissatisfaction towards the ANC by a growing number of black South Africans:
Nkele Huma, 71, lives down the street from the stadium where the DA rallied. She lives alone and uses a walker to stand. Recent rolling blackouts meted out by the mismanaged state-owned power company Eskom have left her sitting helplessly in the dark for long stretches.
“I used to vote for the ANC because they took us out of apartheid,” she said. “But now they are stealing. We voted for them and now they abandoned us.”
Strangely, however, many whites are going the complete opposite direction. Again, here is a clip from the article by Max Bearak:
Meanwhile, some white South Africans have pledged to vote for the ANC for the first time in their lives. In Gauteng, the state where both Johannesburg and Pretoria are located, almost a quarter of white respondents were considering voting for the ANC, according to Everatt’s polling, up from less than 5 percent in past elections.
Bizarre, no?
According to the most recent news from the BBC, the ANC has apparently picked up a majority of the votes, and will remain in power, at least for another five years. But they had better start acting, and quickly, in order to maintain their strongest support among the black majority that had kept them in power for a quarter of a century now.
All of the quotes used above were taken from the Max Bearak article from The Washington Post. I also used the recent information from the BBC in writing this particular blog entry:
In South Africa, a growing number of voters are looking beyond race in this week’s election by Max Bearak, May 6, 2019:
South Africa election: ANC leads as votes counted by BBC News Africa, May 9, 2019:
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