Tainted politicians on ANC candidate list: Business as usual - Dr Piet Croukamp

The African National Congress (ANC) reacted with anger when their candidate list for the May elections leaked due to what the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) called an “internal glitch.” An ongoing investigation by the IEC aims to determine how this leak occurred. President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his concern, stating that it “undermined and brought the IEC into disrepute.” However, he remains confident in the IEC’s processes and is satisfied with the commission’s explanation. While ten prominent ANC leaders facing criminal charges have been blocked from the ANC’s candidate list, it still contains dozens of leaders implicated in state capture who could potentially return to Parliament. Despite the ANC’s assertion that it has “the best candidates” on the list, political analyst Dr. Piet Croukamp from North West University believes that it’s “business as usual” for the ANC. Voters in the national election on May 29 are fueled by their anger at the ANC, according to Croukamp. However, they may not yet view any of the opposition parties as a viable alternative. Croukamp emphasises that opinion polls, some of which predict that the ANC could fall below 39% of the national vote, should not be taken as raw data that definitively explains or predicts outcomes. “An opinion poll is a snapshot of a moment in time,” he asserts. Furthermore, Dr. Croukamp dismisses the likelihood of the ANC achieving only 39%. To fall to 50% of the votes, approximately 1.5 million people would need to stop voting for the ANC. Regarding the possibility of Julius Malema becoming the kingmaker in South Africa, Dr. Croukamp warns against underestimating Malema’s intention to unseat the ANC from power. If opposition parties manage to attract a substantial share of the votes in the national elections, they should carefully consider their choice for president, avoiding the nomination of John Steenhuisen, he said