PERILS OF ANC DEFEAT

WITH reference to Farouk Araie’s letter in the Saturday Star, he brings up a subject that I have been surprised has not raised its head before.

I am an avid newspaper reader and have not seen any written word on the matter – the possibility of a civil war if the ANC is humiliated in the 2019 elections.

The modern history of Africa is littered with examples of governments – particularly corrupt ones – being voted out of power but refusing to go, with the result that countries end up with a dictatorship or almost-dictatorship through the use of the army and security forces.

Everything written is about who could get into power, what coalitions could work, how would a government be formed with the different versions of potential coalitions and many other scenarios.

Some serious thinking should go into a possible “downside” to the election, how things could end up if the ANC “loses” the election (watch out for extraordinary lengths of time to “count” votes!) and what we can do or need to do from now to prevent any downside occurring.

One hopes that there are a number of senior ANC members who may still be sitting on the fence who may fully understand the looming “downside” and how the country can avoid it from becoming a reality.

M Edwards