ANC not worth voting for

Columnist Peter Bruce’s three assumptions seem to be that there is a principled ANC and an unprincipled ANC; that while Cyril Ramaphosa cannot renew the ANC, he can still reform the state; and that Ramaphosa will be president after May 8. First, there is only one ANC, including the good, the bad and the ugly. For 25 years the party has consisted of those who leached off SA’s people, those who were on the sidelines, and those who did nothing about it.

Second, no one person can effect state reform within a dirty, divided and duplicitous political party responsible for entrenched rot in every sphere, department and enterprise of government. Ramaphosa has kept dirty leaders, fails to unite a divided organisation and makes duplicitous policy statements dependent on the audience.

Third, South Africans vote for a political party, not a president. The president is elected by parliament. With unrelenting rumours that David Mabuza is eyeing the job, and the ANC list containing criminal elements, there is no guarantee Ramaphosa will be re-elected SA president after the election. The ANC is using Ramaphosa for its 2019 campaign precisely because of sentiments like Bruce’s. It is strange that no other ANC leaders are participating in the ground war, as is custom. They are manipulating the desperate, but blind hope some South Africans have placed in a phantom who promised them a new dawn.

I implore Bruce, and Business Day readers, to look at the bigger picture. Don’t reward the ANC for the endless list of crimes and scandals. We will only experience change when we choose it. Our hope lies in the DA, which is clean, cohesive and clear on its offer.

Terri Stander Via e-mail