By Alec Hogg
As with many other things I’ve learnt at the WEF this week, voters’ sharp swing away from the ruling political party is no South African aberration.
A surprising aspect of my Davos week has been the way usually well-informed South Africa watchers appear to be ignorant about the seismic change in our politics. A transformation evident again this week in the staggering results of a Mtubatuba by-election where the IFP captured a seat won in November 2021 by the ANC with 77% of the vote.
___STEADY_PAYWALL___That together with the Patriotic Alliance’s switch to give control to DA-led teams in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, made it a big week for the ‘Rainbow Coalition’ which plans to introduce SA to a meritocratic and free enterprise future after May 2024. Suddenly an idea which was inconceivable pre-Covid is very much in the realms of possibility.
As with many other things I’ve learnt at the WEF this week, the sharp swing away from the ruling political party is no SA aberration. Voters in most democracies are blaming incumbents for the pandemic pain and inflation – punishing them at the polls. In SA’s case the ANC carries an added burden of economic stagnation and well-documented corruption.
In 2021, when the business-friendly candidate HH Hichelema won the Zambian presidential election at his sixth attempt, his good friend Mmusi Maimane told BNC#2 he believed the winds of change were blowing in Southern African politics. That appears to be transforming into a Force ten gale. Best prepare for a very different future.
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