CITIZENS TIRED OF POLITICIANS’ EMPTY PROMISES
IN JULY 1993 the date for the first democratic election in South Africa was announced. The ten months leading up to 27 April 1994 put the country on a knife edge.
From apocalyptic predictions of a looming Armageddon in Alberton to states of euphoria in Evaton and Elsies River, the country went from one extreme to the other.
Events such as Chris Hani’s murder, Chiefs Buthelezi and Mangope’s refusal to participate in the elections and conservative Afrikaner movements preparing for all hell to break loose, it seemed like the country was part of a constant and never-ending hostage drama.
As of today, the 2024 general election is the big story for the next 10 months.
The mistake that many of our political parties are making is constantly looking back at what went wrong. They are drumbeating all the mistakes of the current government from every podium.
What they forget is that South Africans are a strange group of people with very short memories and an uncanny sense of forgiveness.
Thieves, tenderpreneurs and tyrants are all welcome to kiss their babies and give them bread in exchange for their vote.
The key to winning the election is being clear on what is being offered. If you cannot spell out your offer to the electorate you won't persuade them to change their vote.
To bring about the upheaval that many are predicting in 2024, which is to wrest the majority from the ANC, political parties must do more than drumbeat history lessons to the electorate in which they demonise their opposition.
Income strategies, housing and safety, as basic social security issues, are going to be the top three factors in winning the hearts of the lower-income voters.
The rest may be persuaded by safety, anti-corruption and good governance as their top three issues in the elections.
Relying on current sound bites from disaffected voters promising to unseat the ANC should not be relied on. There is a deep-seated appreciation for the liberation struggle waged and won by the ANC and its allies.
Anyone who demonises that as an election strategy will pay for it at the polls.
One feature that has emerged as winning elections since October 2021 is fast-paced service delivery. This has won the Patriotic Alliance a few wards. People vote for what they can see.
Speeches, conferences and papers on the future of South Africa are not an election-winning strategy. As necessary as they are, remember, you are pitching your party to people who are tired of wandering in the proverbial wilderness with a bucket toilet and R350.
They want to see an urgency in service delivery. They want to be the last generation who struggles with poverty.
They want a better life for themselves and their children in their lifetime.
Dreary, uninspired history lessons filled with histrionics of how bad the ANC is will not persuade voters. It may, in fact, only persuade them to stay with their current party allegiance, if they are ANC voters.
In the chambers of election strategists, it is now important to bring four things together. First, honour the political struggle that wrestled South Africa out of the hands of apartheid, don't demonise it.
Second, have the longest list of service delivery items, valued by both lower income and higher income communities, programmed and dated for roll-out and stop comparing it to the previous government's failure.
Third, be respectful to all, in touch with all and on the ground with all, in a manner that makes people believe again in the South African dream. Thirdly, arrogance, ignorance and classist pandering will be punished at the ballot box.
The people of South Africa are tired of promises and politicians. They need a government that lives up to its Constitution.
That Constitution calls for a respectful, safe, just, inclusive, equitable and prosperous South Africa for all.
Who will do it for all?