SA Natives Forum explains ANC ‘dismal performance’ in local elections

Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Glen Mashinini officially declared the 2021 Local Government Elections as free and fair, in an event that was held on Thursday to announce the final results at the National Results Operations Centre in Pretoria.

More than 12 million South Africans cast their ballots on Monday 1 November to elect candidates who they prefer to represent them in the country’s 257 municipal councils.

One of the biggest talking points that came out of these results is the dismal performance of the African National Congress (ANC). The ruling party lost a number of key Municipalities across the country and many people have been trying to make sense of what led to this.

Secretary General of SA Natives Forum, Nkhathale Dikobo gave Vulankungu a detailed account of what went wrong in the ANC. He says that the governing party’s internal processes are dysfunctional as it has failed to implement its core resolutions from the previous conference. 

Add to that, ANC branches and regions were marred by chaos leading up to the local government elections, and the organisation’s staff members haven’t been paid their salaries for months. 

Another talking point highlighted by Dikobo was the issue of the civil unrest that happened in large parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. 

“President Ramaphosa said the unrest was because of ethnic mobilisation, then he said it was an insurrection. A lot of people who support President Zuma were arrested but none were charged with insurrection.”

The government sent soldiers to confiscate looted food and other items, they burned the looted food and these searches happened only in African communities.

Nkhathale Dikobo.

“We saw on TV whites and Indians looting as well, so it seems the government sent the soldiers to oppress black people, not to curb the violence. And to date the president has never come out to condemn the killings in Phoenix and racial acts we saw in KZN,” he added.

Ramaphosa’s failure to deal with corruption from within, as well as his handling of state owned enterprises are among the reason raised by Dikobo, which have also been mentioned by many people in the streets.

The low voter turnout is further indication of how disgruntled ANC supporters have been lately, with the hashtag “RamaphosaMustGo” already starting to occupy the social media trends list on a daily basis.