Global News Journal
Beyond the World news headlines
from Africa News blog:
Will South Africa’s poor always back ANC?
It’s one of the biggest ironies in South African politics -- the most loyal ANC voters are often those the party appears to have let down most bitterly.
For millions of poor, mostly black South Africans, life has barely changed since the African National Congress defeated apartheid under Nelson Mandela in 1994.
Year after year, they wait for the new house, the job, the running water and electricity, the decent education for their children that the ANC has promised. For many, that never comes. Yet most will still vote for ANC and its leader Jacob Zuma in an election next week.
The poorest residents of Munsieville, a township on the edge of Johannesburg, illustrate the contradiction.
Unemployed and tired of living crammed into one-room shacks with no running water or electricity, they are quick to list the ways their government has failed them.
Hundreds share one water tap, which sits next to a stinking mound of rubbish where dirt-smudged children play and stray dogs scavenge for food. They dig pits for toilets.
Many say they have languished for years at the bottom of waiting lists for decent housing. They were left behind while others enjoyed a decade of continuous economic growth that created a burgeoning black middle class.
Should South Africa’s ANC split?
The African National Congress faces the biggest internal crisis of its history after the decision to oust President Thabo Mbeki following suggestions of official interference in the corruption case against his rival, party leader Jacob Zuma.
South Africa’s ruling party has stressed that the decision of the executive was unanimous. Mbeki’s resignation speech also made clear he was not planning to fight.
But despite the show of unity, there is talk of some ANC members splitting to form a new party before the 2009 election.
While that might not seem such a great idea from the ANC’s point of view, would it be so bad for South Africa?
Nelson Mandela’s party represented a wide spectrum of views because of the need for a united front in the fight against apartheid. More than 14 years on, the effects of apartheid certainly linger, but would there be an argument for having more parties to choose from?
Although South Africa is by no means a one-party state, the weak opposition parties have never had much influence.
I prefer to interpret the word ‘split’ as in go or leave, and the answer then would be an emphatic yes. They have turned this country into a playground for the ANC Youth League, and are toying with our lives. Now we have two countries in Africa without government, Somalia and South Africa. This is what the geniuses in the ANC have reduced us to. Split, ANC.
Hardly goes by now without Mugabe calling for the lifting of targeted sanctions or some one in MDC asking for financial aid. MDC claims the GNU will collapse without financial aid with “dire consequences” to the ordinary Zimbabweans. Of course they are lying because the same individuals supported sanctions and the cutting of aid in the past. Mugabe, the master of intrigue, agreed to have MDC join him for that very purpose – that MDC should be his emissaries to the West. The targeted sanctions particularly are hurting Mugabe and those in his inner circle and that is what he is concerned about. He does not care about the ordinary people; never did!
Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because of the years of corrupt and misrule by Mugabe. The GNU has not changed that; Mugabe still has his dictatorial powers and continue to flex these muscles. Bankrolling a lawless and corrupt Zimbabwe will not benefit the ordinary people in any way. Indeed the move will negate all the gains and sufferings made so far.
The targeted sanctions are having an adverse effect on Mugabe and his cronies. The sanctions must be maintained now more than ever before.