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The ANC received a huge blow in Rustenburg. City Press spoke to residents to find out how (and if) they voted
On Thursday morning, ANC veteran Reverend Frank Chikane summoned the media to gloat.
He had foreseen the demise of the party and predicted that the scandals that dogged the ANC would lead to a decline in support.
In Rustenburg – away from the ANC’s coalition talks with frenemies in not-so-dingy Johannesburg hotels – a young woman, Lulama, according to her name tag, says President Jacob Zuma and his party must give her a Jeep in exchange for her vote.
Her gel-tipped nails sport a stylish black-and-white pattern, but on her left thumb there is no telltale “mark of the vote”.
“I didn’t vote, and I wouldn’t even if Zuma came and asked me personally. He must give me a Jeep if he wants my vote. I have never benefited – I pay for water and electricity. Maybe if they were free, I would change my mind.”
What she would eat if she was given a Jeep and no services?
“What do I eat now? They must give me a Wrangler. Then I wouldn’t hesitate to campaign for them in bum shorts,” she says, half-joking.
Lulama doesn’t know – or care – that Rustenburg is one of the country’s hung municipalities. The ANC fell from 72% in 2011 to 49% this year.
They have 43 seats and need 45 for a majority in council. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) won 27% of the vote, and the DA 16%.
A few feet behind the official sign marking Rustenburg municipality is a pole with street names bearing the names of former ANC leaders OR Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.
In these intersecting streets, political party posters clamour for attention.
The face of current ANC president Jacob Zuma looks into a future only he can see.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane looks like he is posing on his first day at big school.
And Julius Malema, on the EFF posters, looks like the cat that got the cream. For every DA and ANC poster, there are about 10 EFF ones.
Sitting at an intersection in the presidential cluster is 32-year-old David Setona.
Originally from the Eastern Cape, he has been standing at this corner looking for a permanent job since 2009.
He – and many others who line this street hailing cars willing to pick them up for piece jobs – is still without work.
Setona last voted during Zuma’s first term, thinking he would bring change.
There hasn’t been any, but Setona says he dares not switch allegiance and vote for another party. He would rather not vote at all.
“I can’t speak about the likes of Julius because I can’t turn my back on the ANC. The ANC brought us freedom as black people. Voting for someone else, I couldn’t do it. My sister, you yourself could not turn on your parent. The ANC is like your parent, your parent that raised you. You can’t, when you think you have come of age, just leave them in the lurch,” he says.
“It is true, ANC numbers are declining. We end up not wanting to vote because we take our grievances to the municipality and nothing comes of it. We do not make demands, we ask them nicely.”
Two bystanders chip in on the conversation as they walk by. Neither of them voted.
They are trying to run a small logistics business, but have received no help from the municipality, despite repeatedly knocking on its doors.
“Mmusi is a slave; you will vote for him, but Helen Zille will never be far behind and that is a problem. Julius is power hungry; he will do the same as the ANC once he comes into power,” says Botshelo Mogale (24).
“It’s not that we don’t trust white people – we don’t trust anyone. You can never trust someone in a suit. Rather trust a guy who walks with a bit of a swagger in the street, because he knows what real life is like, he knows how people live,” adds Amos Ncakuze (26).
Rustenburg, home to two of the world’s largest platinum producers, attracts people from South Africa and neighbouring countries in search of their own pot of gold.
Zakhele, an informal settlement, is home to those who cannot find accommodation in mining hostels, as well as unlucky job seekers.
Thozamile Pendu (41) voted for the ANC. He last worked in 2013, before he was laid off after being told the Entabeni shaft where he worked had reached its quota.
He thinks the ANC needs to team up with the DA, because “we must admit as black people that there are some things we can’t do that the white people can”.
“The DA may be willing to speak to other white people to open up the shafts. They will understand one another as white people. I am not saying that the ANC must be unseated, the DA must work underneath them. If they had full control, it would be a painful way of living.”
He also believes tenders should be done away with because they are “killing the country”.
“The government tried to empower people with tenders, but they have become our downfall. Government must employ people under them with benefits to deliver services.
“They must give us jobs. If you have water and lights but no food, you are screwed. Rather give us jobs.”
