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Mantashe a fall guy in ANC finger pointing

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Gwede Mantashe
Gwede Mantashe

The fallout over the ANC’s dismal election performance has led to fierce finger pointing. While Gauteng leaders blame President Jacob Zuma, Zuma supporters blame ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, saying that if he had been stricter on the Gauteng ANC, severe losses could have been avoided.

The ANC initially tried to put a gloss on the results, saying that 14 million votes cast in its favour “dramatically exceeds numbers recorded in the previous municipal election”. But it added that introspection was necessary.

Mantashe blamed the low ANC voter turnout on black people not appreciating the value of a vote. Other ANC leaders blamed the cold August day for people not coming out to vote in townships.

ANC leaders unanimously agreed that DA voters turned out in large numbers, while the ANC’s traditional base stayed away.

Senior ANC national executive committee (NEC) members close to Zuma told City Press that Mantashe had been too soft on the Gauteng ANC, allowing them to get away with conduct that should have been under control – such as running their campaigns differently from other provinces.

They claimed the Gauteng ANC had been reluctant to have Zuma’s face on their election T-shirts, which Mantashe should have addressed strongly.

They also said that in 2014, there were signs that the ANC would lose Johannesburg and Tshwane, but Mantashe did not follow through to ensure effective interventions were then put in place.

They also saw Mantashe’s decision to allow provinces to negotiate their own coalitions as an attempt to bypass the NEC.

“The ideal situation would be to convene an urgent NEC meeting to reflect and advise on how coalitions should play out, given that it has a bearing on the 2019 polls,” said one NEC member.

In response, Mantashe told City Press this was not a time for self-hatred.

Meanwhile, Gauteng leaders believe the national ANC fought the wrong battle by allowing the elections to centre on national issues. They say Luthuli House should have allowed provinces and regions to take on the opposition, and Johannesburg Mayor Parks Tau and Ekurhuleni Mayor Mondli Gungubele would have proved formidable opponents.

“The EFF and DA must have been advised by the same person to make this an election over national issues, and we fell into their trap,” said a Gauteng ANC leader.

Another Gauteng ANC leader said Zuma lost the poll for them with a negative campaign.

“Just one week before the elections, our internal polls were telling us that 19% of voters in Gauteng were still undecided who to vote for. The research showed that 10% of those were people with an affinity for or a history with the ANC, and therefore likely to be swayed to vote for the party.

“But then the president started a negative campaign, attacking other leaders. This turned off our middle class voters. This was the first time the ANC had ever done something like that.”

However, election results yesterday showed that the ANC had a drop in support even in provinces where Zuma was popular. Compared with results of the 2011 municipal elections, North West dropped by 13.56 percentage points, Free State by 9.21 and Mpumalanga by 6.5. Only KwaZulu-Natal grew by a tiny margin of 0.18%.

An ANC branch leader in one of Johannesburg’s northern suburbs said that for a long time “the ANC thought our people owed us votes”.

The leader said that in the 2014 national and provincial election, the ANC in Gauteng had lost 10% and “we blamed everything else but ourselves”.

“Now we have lost another 10%. We cannot lose 20% in two years and blame others. If we do not do something, in 2019 we will be the opposition in the province”.

An NEC member said a part of the Zuma bloc rejected the idea of disbanding the Gauteng ANC before next year’s national elective conference as it might backfire and “look like a factional decision”.

An SA Communist Party insider commented that what was needed was an objective analysis; this person saying “even if Zuma was not president, the ANC would have lost votes”, while the ANC Youth League announced it would not attend any planned victory parties because there was little to celebrate.

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