Whoever said size doesn’t count clearly isn’t on the ANC elections committee. The party’s posters, wallpapering Joburg, all but drown out the opposition; a virtually invisible Solly Msimanga, for example, peers from above a larger-than-life-sized Cyril Ramaphosa, who’s grinning like a man who’s just found $580,000 stuffed in his couch.
For the record, the Msimanga poster is normal size. The ANC’s? Well, you too could have a cardboard cut-out of the president in your living room.
Clearly the party has finally scrounged up the cash to start its campaigning. But it does raise the question of who the brave contractor was who printed the posters. After all, the last company to secure the contract for ANC election paraphernalia had to resort to legal action to claw back R102m. It was only in December — more than four years later — that the matter with Ezulweni Investments was settled (out of court).
As perplexing is the party’s elections slogan: Let’s do more, together. More looting? More fraud? More cadre deployment? Like some grand Capone family reunion.
Let’s do more recycling of the same old, tired — and compromised — cadres too. At least that’s what a look at the party’s national elections lists suggests.
For a start, there’s the concentration of leaders at the upper end of the age scale. Consider the top 50 positions on the national list: almost 30% of them will be 60 or older this year, four of them in the top 10 alone. The same applies to the top 100 — those who would take up national proportional representation seats if the ANC were to squeak through with a 50% win — and to the regional lists, based on a rough aggregation. (The DA isn’t too different at the front end of its list; more than a third of its top 50 will be 60 or older this year.)
It’s not quite the territory of the US, where octogenarian Joe Biden and septuagenarian Donald Trump are engaged in a heated match of electoral bingo. But it does raise questions about how in touch the party can possibly be with a crucial national constituency. After all, figures from the Electoral Commission of South Africa show more than 40% of registered voters are under the age of 40. Yet politicians 39 and younger number just 16% on the ANC top 50 list — and precisely none fall into the 20-29 cohort. (The DA offers a more even spread after its top-heavy start.) Perhaps that’s not the way to mobilise a potentially powerful constituency that is already more reluctant to vote.
Though representation is better on the provincial lists, it wouldn’t be a stretch to think the youth may feel a bit alienated. As it is, the ANC Youth League must be a bit acid, given that it was hoping for 50% representation in the party’s parliamentary caucus. If its national parliamentary representatives are supposed to broadly mirror the demographic of the country, then the ANC is failing on the age front.
More than 40% of registered voters are under the age of 40, yet politicians 39 and younger number just 16% on the ANC top 50 list — and precisely none fall into the 20-29 cohort
A question of credibility
The agglomeration of older politicians on the electoral lists also raises questions about the depth of leadership in the party. It may speak to an unwillingness to relinquish privilege — or to hand over the reins of power. That’s perhaps no surprise, given the quality of some of the younger leaders waiting in the wings.
Consider the next generation of party seniors (those aged 50-59 — the biggest cohort on the national list): it includes such paragons as corruption-accused David Mahlobo, who allegedly had wads of cash delivered to him during the heady days of state capture; Zizi Kodwa, who chief justice Raymond Zondo found was beholden to Jehan Mackay, of EOH fame; Zuma foot soldier Faith Muthambi, who apparently leaked confidential information to the Guptas and gutted the SABC (including by putting the unhinged Hlaudi Motsoeneng in charge); and Gupta pal Malusi Gigaba. All in the top 50 — so shoo-ins for parliamentary positions. Cedric Frolick, implicated by Zondo in the Bosasa matter, is also there, sneaking in on the regional list.
That’s in addition to the likes of Zweli “Digital Vibes” Mkhize and fashionista Dina Pule.
Ironically, Newzroom Afrika reports that Fikile Mbalula last week said the ANC will no longer stand by corrupt members. Given the party’s happy inclusion of the compromised, that’s a statement with about as much intellectual honesty as politicians’ paeans to the good lord at Moria over Easter.
Looked at more broadly, the party list also includes a charge of the inept: the return of economic lightweight Khumbudzo Ntshavheni (in the top 10); crime-scene trampler Bheki Cele; xenophobe Aaron Motsoaledi; old fossil Gwede Mantashe; and social development disaster Lindiwe Zulu. The list goes on …
Electoral lists populated with this calibre of leadership suggest a party that has run out of ideas and credible candidates. So, when you’ve exhausted all other possibilities, what are you to do? Recycle the old. And mask your lack of imagination by making your posters bigger.
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