You can only beat the ANC if you join it

The majority of South Africans will again vote for the ANC in the forthcoming elections. It is unavoidable as it is the only party of choice for them. Of course, the minority is hopping mad that this confirms the fear that the ANC may rule until the Second Coming. But who else can the poor, unemployed, hungry and house-less vote for?

The ANC is the only obvious choice that has the potential to not only restore their dignity but offer them basic things that give their lives meaning and purpose.

Of course, there is infighting, corruption and jockeying for positions in the ANC to access state resources. This is what you find in every political party in the world. But the ANC has remained intact, strong and focused. Its centre has not fallen, but still holds.

No, I am not denying that in many instances it has failed to deliver. This is to be expected if you think about it. To a large degree, the men and women who make up its top echelons have no practical experience in running the state. After all, they were barred from this for many decades. You cannot expect them to master this in … er, 17 years.

Unlike the privileged, the poor and unemployed will not be going to malls or throwing expensive parties on the day of the elections. They will go to exercise their vote. And they will vote for the ANC. They do not take this right for granted. It is a huge responsibility to make sure that neither whites nor the DA takes over political power from the blacks, again, if you like.

Of course, lots of money has been spent on wrong projects, such as the international youth conference, if you like. It could have been used effectively on education, health or even feeding schemes for hungry school children in rural areas. But the youth are the future leaders of this country. Someone had to take their interests seriously; someone had to give them money to do what young people do — which is empty political posturing and wasteful expenditure.

Not that one wants to justify the misspending public funds. There will always be individuals within the ANC who continue with “struggle accounting” methods. But why don’t concerned citizens in the private sector come forward to lend a willing hand to avoid these kinds of problems? It is their money, too. Or is it because they want to leave the blacks to mess up? Well, this will not stop them from voting for the ANC.

The poor and unemployed will not choose the DA against the ANC. They see the DA as the party for the baas and missus, largely trying to bring back apartheid and preserve white domination. The DA faces a lot of challenges to change these perceptions. You find that top blacks within it continue to complain about racism. You rarely find whites in the ANC complain about marginalisation. The white members in the ANC, largely, feel accepted and are treated as equals. So, both blacks and whites will vote the ANC and not the DA.

Well, you want to know why blacks do not vote for the other small parties like the IFP, UDM or ACDP, which are also black. Most of them carry the apartheid baggage of “working within the system”. Their leaders have never really enjoyed support from the majority. They are and will always remain minority parties. The less said about PAC or Azapo the better as they have condemned themselves to the margins.

The only party that the people know is the ANC. And it is turning 100 next year. It takes resilience, focus and determination to turn 100 years in politics. Imagine what happened to the National Party — it died a natural death.

We all know that the media and its all-knowing analysts will give us all sorts of reason why more and more people will not vote for the ANC. Frankly, the talking heads don’t know what they are talking about. It does not matter how many people do not go to vote for the ANC or even boycott the elections. But the majority of those who will vote will vote for the ANC. This is something that we all have to learn to live with.

There is no alternative to the ANC. In fact, it is a one-stop shop where you find everything that you need: unity, hope, non-delivery, power-wrangles, focus, hard-work, corruption, responsibility, determination, chaos, direction, cronyism, integrity, independence, conformity, non-implementation of plans and everything else you can imagine. We can only hope that it learns from its mistakes sooner. It is the only party for now that can take this country to a higher plane.

For now, it seems nobody can beat it. Maybe we should all just focus on helping to correct its inherent contradictions and mistakes to make it work. It will be in the best interests of the country, for without it the majority of the people would be lost. If you cannot beat it, perhaps the only option is to join the only party in town.