Governing parties that are about to lose power are a danger to society at large
South Africans need to keep an eye on the IEC
prison.
In more open societies, dying governing parties try to manipulate state institutions to engineer an illegal comeback. The first and most important institution to be targeted is the body that conducts elections.
The usual underhanded method is to pack such a body with deployed cadres of the dying party, and to put pressure on independent officials to resign.
Over the past 23 years, elections in South Africa have been conducted by a credible Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). When the ANC was confident of victory, there was no need for the party to use the IEC to stay in power.
Across South Africa ordinary people now entertain the possibility of the ANC losing the 2019 elections.
This is when we must all watch happenings at the IEC. We must look at every official who resigns and every new appointment.
Given the extent to which the ANC has corrupted our state, it would be naïve to think the party would not attempt to capture the IEC and use it.
The other method used by governing parties that are about to lose power is to renew the contracts of deployees who head critical state institutions just before an election. This is a trap to ensure that the next government is sabotaged by officials with allegiance to the old regime.
Maybe there is no need to worry, but South Africans must never think that their county is exceptional.
What has happened elsewhere can happen to us.