Category: politics

He’s even got the best poster…

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So said ANC Provincial Secretary Songezo Mjongile of his party’s mayoral candidate for Cape Town, Tony Ehrenreich.
Sadly, Mjongile was referring to the ANC poster of dear Tony, in which he has an obviously forced smile and looks rather creepy as a result. But COSATU have also released a poster of the man, which I think is really cool.

The neutral background, the dated red and green blocks of colour, the three-quarter profile, the slightly raised chin, the positive, but firm gaze into the middle distance. It’s all terribly reminiscent of a Soviet propaganda poster. The politics, of course, aren’t all that different either.
And while I’m disinclined to agree with Mjongile’s assessment that Ehrenreich will get the 750,000 votes he needs to become our Mayor until 2016, he actually did get the poster thing right. Albeit accidentally.

Cold fronts and warm klaps

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Ah, the Cape winter. Bringing with it days of endless sunshine and temperatures in the low to mid twenties. Well, not usually, but that seems to be what’s happening at the moment. The first (and possibly second) of the infamous South Atlantic cold fronts that bring wind, rain, wind and rain to the Mother City are but a distant memory and we’re left with pretty days and clear skies forecast for the rest of the week. But we’re not complaining. We’re just enjoying these moments while we can, because we all know that there is trouble ahead, meteorologically speaking.

In an unrelated story, it seems that there’s also trouble ahead, politically speaking, for the ANC. The Daily Maverick’s Stephen Grootes puts their ultra-aggressive campaigning down to a sudden realisation that they are about to be dealt a warm klap by the electorate (a la Liberal Democrats back in the UK) and sheer damage limitation.

Zuma knows that, generally speaking, and with a hugely broad brushstroke, if you’re poor, black and pissed off, you’re just not voting. If you’re white, middle-class and pissed off, you’re going to vote, but not for him. So he’s got to invoke something to get the masses out to vote. And he is almost forced to be heavy-handed. How do you counter the image of black people on TV old enough to remember the days when they couldn’t vote now saying they will not vote? Well, you claim they’ve “been fed propaganda”, and invoke the horror of our past. It’s pretty sharp, but it’s all there is left for Zuma to use.

And political analysts here at 6000 miles… when asked their opinions on what might occur next Wednesday were very clear:

ANC support to *decrease* in CT – no chance for Tony. DA and Cope alliance to take Nelson Mandela Bay. ANC to get big scare in JHB, nearly losing it. Big DA inroads everywhere, and by far our most significant election since 94.

Which goes against the official ANC line that they can win Cape Town, but is very much in keeping with the other official ANC line which says that they can’t win Cape Town.
ANC provincial secretary, Songezo Mjongile is with Zuma in the former camp, talking up their chances of getting 750,000 votes and installing  Tony Ehrenreich as Mayor:

“To win the City of Cape Town, the ANC needs (to win) 56 wards and about 750 000 (proportional) votes based on the expected turn-out. The trends show this is attainable,” said Mjongile.
If the ANC’s supporters flocked to the polls, he said, the DA’s support would fall below 50 percent.

The problem with Mjongile’s statement is firstly that, as mentioned above, the ANC’s supporters are unlikely to flock to the polls and secondly, that no-one can see which trends he is talking about. In the last Local Government elections back in 2006, the ANC received 280 232 proportional votes in the City of Cape Town.  That’s some way short of the 750 000 that he is hoping for this time around.

And our analysts may have a point about Jo’burg as well, as DA MP (and infamously, Daily Maverick Opinionista) Ian Olsen notes:

Rumours spreading of City of Joburg officials told to destroy sensitive documents, “In case ANC doesn’t win” Eish… Rats departing!

Which reminded us of the final days of Cape Town Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo and her “gift” to the people of the city of city manager Wallace Mgoqi, whose contract was extended in the final days of the ANC-led city council in 2006; a decision which was promptly revoked by the incoming Helen Zille. Mgoqi clung like a barnacle before finally being dumped into the middle-management dustbin by a fourth court ruling against him.

It remains to be seen what surprises (or lack of them) the ANC will leave should they lose Johannesburg, but one thing is for sure – it’s looking like the next fortnight is going to bring stormy weather for those in the green, black and yellow camp.

Muslamic ray guns

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DISCLAIMER: Publishing these videos does not amount to this site’s support for the EDL or any other political party or protest organisation.

The English Defence League are a right-wing organisation in the UK (well, specifically England, obviously) whose mission statement may make distressing reading for those without a strong stomach for radical political ideology. It’s also concerning to note that their primarily islamophobic philosophy may have some support (albeit mainly tacit support) among the greater population of the UK:

The reason why the EDL’s adoption of Islamophobia is particularly significant is that unlike the 1970s, when the National Front was embracing antisemitism, there are now sections of the media and the British establishment that are relatively sympathetic towards Islamophobia. It is not difficult to look through the media and find quite hostile views towards Islam and Muslims. That is fundamentally different to the 1970s, when very few newspapers or politicians were endorsing the NF’s antisemitic message.

Fortunately, we’re not here to debate the political views of the EDL. We’re here to laugh at this man:

Bless. He seems a little dazed and confused. Or drunk and stupid. Or, more likely, dazed, confused, drunk and stupid. I must admit that I had to wipe away an emotional tear just then. Damn, he makes me proud to be British… English… whatever.

Now, you might think that stumbling and incoherent monologue is pretty amusing in itself.
And you’d be right.

But it gets even better when put to a beat and subjected to the musical monstrosity that is autotune:

Whatever his political beliefs or IQ, when he puts it like that, I think he has a point: we should all be watchful for those Muslamic ray guns.

More election confusion

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After yesterday’s election confusion over whether or not the ANC “can” win Cape Town in next month’s Municipal Elections, that same party have made great inroads in not winning the Tlokwe (Potchefstroom) Municipality by regrettably (or not, possibly) failing to register candidates in seven wards there:

A member of the ANC’s provincial executive committee (PEC) in North West, who asked not to be named, told the M&G that provincial secretary Kabelo Mataboge was to blame for not registering candidates with the Independent Electoral Commission.
As the provincial secretary Mataboge is responsible for ensuring that all registrations are conducted according to the letter of the law and on time.
He allegedly sent a messenger to the IEC offices in Potchefstroom to register ANC candidates on the last day of registration.
It is alleged that Mataboge gave the messenger all the forms that needed to be submitted but that he signed six of them without the names of the candidates being specified. This was despite the fact that the list of candidates had been finalised by provincial leaders.

Oops.

The ANC’s North West provincial working committee was due to meet on April 20 and party sources said it would look into the possibility of disciplining Mataboge. “He’s likely to face several charges related to bringing the party into disrepute. It’s a serious charge,” the source said.

Sadly, this never happened in the UK. We could have been spared a lot of Labour if it had.

One thing I do like about this story is the name Tlokwe. So much prettier than the “original” Afrikaans name.
Am I allowed to say that?

Election confusion

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With the municipal elections just 4 weeks away, the ANC have launched a new tactic to confuse the local electorate into voting (presumably) for them. A couple of weeks ago, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe admitted that the party had no chance of winning the Cape Town Municipality from the incumbent DA:


At first, I thought that this was either reverse psychology or actually a strange moment of honesty from a politician. Although, I have to say that Motlanthe has always struck me as being a fairly honest sort of bloke, which is pretty unusual for someone in that profession.

Anyway, apparently he was wrong because 2 weeks on, the “ANC can win Cape Town” according to his boss – and indeed everybody’s boss – Jacob Zuma:

Bewildered? Of course you are. So allow me to explain.

Actually, I can’t.

Quite how two leading members of the same political party can publicly differ so much over a simple issue is beyond me. And of course, they’re both correct. Mathematically, the ANC can win Cape Town; realistically (barring any bombshells in the next couple of weeks), they probably can’t. Does anyone actually need to be told this? Probably not.

Are potential voters likely to be swayed by this sort of apparent difference of opinion? Probably only as much as they are by the overblown promises of either of the main parties in the election race.

Meanwhile, if any local political organisation can come up with a plan to stop my neighbours dogs barking at 5 o’clock every single sodding morning, then they can have my vote instantly and without question, whether they think they can win in Cape Town or not.