This is how to unseat the ANC in 2024
Opposition parties should form a coalition ahead of the 2024 national elections and appoint a credible leader who can unite them and the nation.
This would mean opposition parties would not independently contest the elections, but do so under one banner.
Such a body would have to draw up a manifesto of core policies parties could unite around. Importantly, it should consider a neutral face as its leader, one not associated with those involved. This would put paid to current leaders not wanting to work together because of egos or past animosities.
To install a neutral leader, the main opposition DA, which would likely dominate the body due to its size, would have to forgo making its leader, John Steenhuisen, the presidential candidate. That would be a hard sell among the DA rank and file, but worth it to unseat the ANC.
To unite ahead of the elections would mean many notoriously egotistical leaders would have to set aside their self-importance for the greater good of the country, its people and its future, which is being destroyed by the ANC.
Unseating a monopoly liberation movement such as the ANC, which has dominated power for too long on the backs of supporters who vote based on the party’s history, would need a coalition that cuts across ideologies, party lines and egos. In any event, the policies of many parties to the right or centre of the ANC are so similar that beyond their leaders, names and colours, they cannot be distinguished from it. Even predominantly black populist parties on the left of the ruling party have the same policies.
Because the ANC is a broad-based liberation movement with leaders and policies on the left, centre and right, the party has mass crossideological
If the opposition does this before 2024 and campaigns as one, it will have a greater chance of taking the ANC to below 40% and governing outright
appeal. A coalition between opposition parties, with their different ideologies and demographics, would also be such a movement, creating a like-for-like alternative to the ruling party.
The ANC, with or without President Cyril Ramaphosa, is likely to drop below 50% in the 2024 elections because of groundswell anger about corruption, incompetence and indifference among its grassroots members and supporters.
With Ramaphosa in charge, the party is likely to secure in the mid-40s and would have a greater chance of forming a governing coalition with smaller parties. Without Ramaphosa as ANC leader, the party is likely to drop below 40% and would find it difficult to secure a governing coalition without the support of one of the bigger opposition parties, most of whom are unwilling to get into bed with the ANC.
If the ruling party dropped below 40%, it would be easier for opposition parties to form a governing coalition.
If the opposition did this before 2024 and campaigned as one, it would have a greater chance of taking the ANC to below 40% and governing outright. Most importantly, a national coalition of opposition parties would have to be put together now, not days before the elections. If the coalition partners chose a neutral leader, rather than one of the current heads of opposition or the leader of the largest party, they would have to search long and hard for a candidate who would be acceptable to all members.
If such a grouping was successful and defeated the ANC, the governing opposition coalition would then establish a government of national unity with all parties represented in national and provincial cabinets. They could then bring merit into the public service, government procurement and state-owned companies, partner the private sector, civil society and professionals, and turn around ailing SA with the best talent, capacity and ideas. This is readily available, but deliberately ignored by the ANC leadership.
A governing opposition coalition could, if necessary, agree to dissolve after its first term and thereafter contest elections independently.