LGE 2021: What’s at stake?

Make a choice to strengthen South African democracy [View this email in your browser]( November 1, 2021 [Mail & Guardian]( Hi there, Today, South Africans will participate in the sixth round of local government elections since the transition to democracy in 1994. Voters will be able to choose among 60 000 candidates and 325 political parties to elect councillors for 278 municipalities. This will be the first time South Africans vote since the deadly unrest that shook the country back in July when supporters of former president Jacob Zuma reacted violently to his conviction and incarceration for contempt of court. This after he failed to avail himself of the corruption inquiry he had reluctantly initiated. This poll is seen as one of the most important since democracy — the threat to an ANC-led government has become more tangible as voter tolerance of corruption and poor service delivery runs low. A truncated campaign season The run-up to this year’s municipal polls was not without thrills and spills. In September, an application by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to postpone the vote until February 2022 was dismissed by the Constitutional Court. In its application, the IEC cited lockdown regulations and the possible threat of a fourth wave of the Covid-19 virus, after adopting a [report in July by retired deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke](. Moseneke was commissioned by the IEC to investigate whether the elections would be free and fair if held on 27 October, given the possible effect of the pandemic on campaigning and voting. He concluded they would not, and recommended a four-month postponement. The report cited health experts, who warned that the actual number of Covid-19 infections was probably three times higher than the official statistics, and that, although the infection rate would be relatively low in October, holding the elections could result in a resurgence that the country would be unable to manage. Moseneke was commissioned by the IEC to investigate whether the elections would be free and fair if held on 27 October, given the possible effect of the pandemic on campaigning and voting. He concluded they would not, and recommended a four-month postponement. The report cited health experts, who warned that the actual number of Covid-19 infections was probably three times higher than the official statistics, and that, although the infection rate would be relatively low in October, holding the elections could result in a resurgence that the country would be unable to manage. The ANC would have been the biggest benefactor of this course. It had failed to register hundreds of its councillor candidates with the IEC; had the candidate registration process not been extended, the governing party would have lost control of at least 30 municipalities. Although the ANC narrowly survived this administrative bungle, another threat emerged in the form of internal ructions in branches across the country, with members claiming the party’s candidate selection process had been manipulated. Hundreds of ANC members decided lawfare was the way, filing disputes over the selection of candidates, with violence flaring up in parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Limpopo. At least 10 people were killed as anger spilled over into physical reprisals. At the party’s election manifesto launch in Tshwane, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa assured party members that disputes would be dealt with after the polls, encouraging volunteers and members to rather focus on the campaign. The ANC saw disgruntled voters punish it in the 2016 municipal elections, when the Democratic Alliance took municipalities in the metros of Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane and Johannesburg. Although the DA was considered on the rise in 2016, its popularity since then has steadily declined because of what began to be perceived as racially tinted factional battles, which [led to the watershed resignation of its leader, Mmusi Maimane](. For some, that drama may have been a saving grace for Maimane who, without the horror represented by the man from Nkandla, stood no chance against the guile and charm of Ramaphosa. The DA’s coalition with the smaller parties also disintegrated in Nelson Mandela Bay and the City of Johannesburg. The Economic Freedom Fighters partnered with them, but lost its appetite for the blue party, leading to the[ousting of Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip]( and the ANC taking over in Johannesburg. The DA managed to regain Nelson Mandela Bay and clung to power in Tshwane as the ANC’s provincial government attempted to muscle in by placing Tshwane under administration. The courts found in favour of the DA. While the DA rallied under the slogan “We get things done” — showcasing a positive service delivery record — this would be overshadowed by its overestimation of the efficacy of race-baiting in South Africa. In a stunningly ill-advised move, its KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, Dean Macpherson, put up posters leveraging some of the racist vigilantism that led to people being killed during the July riots in Phoenix. The overwhelmingly negative response to the posters, which juxtaposed the “The ANC called you racists” and “The DA calls you heroes”, forced the DA’s federal executive committee to call an urgent meeting culminating in a [once-defiant Macpherson having to apologise](. DA leader John Steenhuisen’s initial support of Macpherson also provoked talk about him being a liability to the party’s ambitions. He would go on to[fuel these misgivings with incomprehensible behaviour]( during a now infamous episode of the Burning Platform podcast. Acronyms speak louder than words Meanwhile, ActionSA and its party leader, Herman Mashaba, launched an attack on the IEC accusing it of “omitting” the party’s abbreviated name, or acronym, on ward ballot papers, retaining only the ward candidate’s names and the ActionSA logo. Since 2000, ballot papers for local elections bear the name of a ward candidate, the candidate’s party acronym or abbreviation and the logo of the party only. It would later emerge that ActionSA did not comply with the regulatory requirements when filling out the forms registering the party, which require parties to provide an abbreviation or acronym for the party name, as well other requirements. The electoral court found ActionSA’s complaint to be without merit. Not to be outdone in the hijinks, while on the campaign trail, EFF leader Julius Malema accused the IEC of being a branch of the ANC, stating: “We are going around voting stations to check if the IEC is doing their work because we know it is the branch of the ruling party …” He also claimed the ANC was [planning to use load-shedding to steal votes](. The irony is not lost on us, given the ANC’s penchant for casting aspersions on the IEC when things have not always gone its way. The size and scale of the elections make it impossible to reduce what’s at stake to a single issue and foolhardy to assume that parties’ articulation of what this poll is about mirrors that of the public. What we do know for certain is that this contest will show whether Ramaphoria truly did the ANC any favours and whether the party’s factionalism spilling on to the public stage will be a boon or curse for its leader. For the DA, this may well be the test of whether Steenhuisen can lead a national party, despite making it clear that its focus is on courting right-wing elements and being content with being a “[20% party](. And for the Economic Freedom Fighters: Can voters get behind a party that is famous for opposing rather than leading? For the growing number of independents, this election will make apparent whether they will find a following among disaffected voters and whether coalition governments are going to be a long-term feature on our political landscape. Municipalities are our cornerstones More importantly, however, the polls will serve as a reminder to South Africans to focus on how their municipalities are administered. South Africa’s ailing economy is being squeezed by its dysfunctional municipalities, which are impeding local economic development. For years they’ve functioned as dead weight on investment and a strain on the fiscus, meaning they pose a critical sovereign risk. In July, ratings agency [Moody’s downgraded five municipalities]( — the City of Johannesburg and the City of Ekurhuleni in Gauteng, the City of Cape Town in the Western Cape, the Nelson Mandela metropolitan municipality in the Eastern Cape, and the City of uMhlathuze (Richards Bay) in KwaZulu-Natal. Only 199 out of 257 municipalities submitted their audits in time to be included in the auditor general’s consolidated report for the 2019-20 financial year. Of these, only 38 were deemed to be in good financial health. A total of 53 municipalities expressed doubt that they would be able to continue their operations as going concerns. This means they rely on the equitable share grant provided by the national government for survival. This is bigger than ordinances on the use of municipal land or covering potholes. More crucially than being a bellwether for political parties’ electoral fortunes in 2024, the elections today are critical to strengthening South African democracy and serve as a means to encourage municipal governments to do better by their residents. Happy voting! Kiri Rupiah & Luke Feltham [Support the M&G's election coverage]( [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( [Share]( [Share]( Copyright © 2021 Mail & Guardian Media LTD, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive communications from the Mail & Guardian either at our website or by taking out a print subscription. Our mailing address is: Mail & Guardian Media LTD 25 Owl St BraamfonteinJohannesburg, Gauteng 2001 South Africa [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe]( here.