FRIDAY BRIEFING | The ANC in decline: Is the opposition ready to govern? | News24

The ANC in decline: Is the opposition ready to govern?

2021 has not been kind to the ANC. 

The money coffers are dry, while its failure to register candidates for the municipal elections shows it is in complete disarray. Besides dealing with internal battles, the party is struggling to manage to govern the municipalities it won in 2016. It should be using the 2021 municipal elections to gain the metros back it lost in 2016. 

With the local government elections in just under two months, the opposition should be ready to go in for the kill. Analysts say the party doesn’t offer much hope, however a recent Ipsos poll still has the ANC on top, albeit by a very narrow margin. 

Have opposition parties blown their chances? 

In this week’s Friday Briefing, former Business Day editor and author Songezo Zibi outlines what a disaster the ANC has been at national and local level. He points out that despite this, voter turnout remains low with the opposition hardly making a mark.

News24’s assistant editor Pieter du Toit sat down with former DA leader Tony Leon. He told Du Toit that Jacob Zuma was one of the reasons that opposition parties did as well as they did in the previous municipal elections, a feat he thinks might be difficult to pull off again under Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC. 

News24’s columnist and former Cosatu trade union leader as well as former Gauteng premier, Mbhazima Shilowa, writes that the opposition parties are focusing on the wrong issue – which is the ANC, instead of concentrating on bread and butter issues – which is of utmost concern for voters in municipal elections. 

Finally, Unisa professor Dirk Kotzé breaks down the experience of smaller parties governing at local government level. He examines several factors that they should keep in mind if they want to be victorious, including whether they take on Ramaphosa or the ANC. 

It’s an important read before the weekend and as we inch closer to the elections on 1 November.

Have a good weekend. 

Best, 

Vanessa Banton 

Opinions Editor

We have public performers, not an opposition

Despite the mess the ANC has created, opposition parties have remained out of touch and arrogant, resulting in lower voter turnouts, writes Songezo Zibi.

Q&A with Tony Leon | ‘I don’t think opposition parties are ideally placed to exploit ANC weaknesses‘

Tony Leon is one of the more astute observers of South African politics, having led the tiny Democratic Party to become the country’s largest opposition party within one election cycle after 1994. He knows what it takes to build a party and to execute an election strategy. He spoke to Pieter du Toit about the state of the country’s opposition.

Opposition parties need tactic change for victory against a shambolic ANC

The ANC is in a state of disarray and is probably at its weakest as the municipal elections approach. But, as Mbhazima Shilowa writes, every time it opens the door for the opposition, they choose to force the door open from behind.

Elections 2021: Opposition parties dilemma – take on the ANC, or take on Ramaphosa? 

Cyril Ramaphosa is more popular than the ANC. Dirk Kotzé breaks down what impact this and other factors have on opposition parties as they head into the municipal elections.

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