By Alec Hogg
With South Africa’s Parliamentary Elections only months away, some rather smart people have been pondering whether the country might witness a Macron Moment.
As a memory jog, last year in France a new political party founded just 12 months earlier by Emmanuel Macron swept to victory with an absolute majority. At 39, the leader of En Marche! became the youngest president in the Republic’s history.
South Africa’s political field looks similarly fertile for disruption. Established politicians are focused on the past at a time when society at large is concerned about joblessness and poverty – and how to address it. Were a group of successful, youthful, colour-blind souls to step forward with an approach of looking through the windshield rather than a rear view mirror, who knows how voters might react?
Yesterday I got a glimpse of that possibility, but for the moment, am sworn to secrecy. From what I heard, though, SA’s 2019 Election will definitely not be business as usual. About time.
