Political parties continue to disappoint many South Africans who are desperate to see a glimmer of hope ahead of the 2024 national and provincial elections.
With no exceptions, citizens are wary of all the political actors. This is evident in how the ANC is losing support that does not translate into a boost for opposition parties. People are choosing to stay at home rather than make choices they cannot defend with good conscience.
There are a number of reasons why people choose to abstain from voting. Some lament the absence of a viable alternative to the ANC. They see opposition parties as having a narrow focus on single issues, revolving around cultish leaders, or aloof and out of touch with issues facing ordinary people.
Other voters are afraid to back parties that will not succeed. Opposition parties that appear to be peripheral players find it hard to attract support as they are perceived as “too small” to be of consequence.
Some voters have become extremely cynical about politics in general. They accept that there has to be an election for a government to emerge, but they feel “all politicians are the same” and changing governing parties does not guarantee any change for our country.
The recent events at the Tshwane have left many disillusioned with the idea of coalition governments. Such governments are not a product you order off a shelf in a shop; they are results of an electoral process. We should reflect on how to make them work rather than decrying their existence.
There will be more coalition arrangements after the 2024 elections. However, one thing is clear, something drastic needs to happen in order to attract South Africans back to the polls. Those advocating for change — a future beyond the ANC in power — have their work cut out. Voters have become dispirited and there will be no change if voter turnouts are low.
Some influential people, from commentators to funders, seem to believe the solution lies in the consolidation of opposition parties. In 2010, this was called “the realignment of opposition politics”. Then the conversation involved the DA, Independent Democrats (ID), Cope, the UDM and the IFP.
Consolidation is often advocated by those who believe less fragmentation of the opposition could lead to a stronger vehicle able to amass more votes than opposition parties currently do.
This was attempted again in 2014 by the DA and Agang SA, but ended badly with a fallout between Dr Mamphela Ramphele and Helen Zille.
There was much speculation on how that moment came to be, with some alluding to a push by funders for the duo to work together under one banner towards the 2014 elections.
People accept that there has to be an election for a government to emerge, but they feel ‘all politicians are the same’
The idea of umbrella bodies ahead of an election is not new.
However, the genesis of a convergence of different political parties must emanate from within. It cannot be externally sponsored, no matter how much money is involved.
As far back as 2010, it was quite clear that a consolidation of parties would prove difficult in South Africa.
A number of parties are simply not ideologically compatible. There are free market fundamentalists and parties of the extreme left, while some have become personal vehicles or legacy preservation projects more than being about the bigger picture of South Africa.
The best shot at consolidation might come from small parties faced with an existential crisis of either losing the few seats they have in parliament or winning a single seat and being one step away from political obscurity.
The more sizable opposition parties such as the DA, EFF and the IFP will not be entering into pacts. It follows that consolidation is unlikely to usher in a new era of opposition politics.
It must be said that the behaviour of some parties in Tshwane does little to inspire confidence in opposition parties.
ActionSA embarked on a witch hunt to find out which of its councillors voted against its multiparty coalition. It even administered polygraph tests as the mayoral election was through a secret ballot. The party undermined the sacrosanct principle of secrecy.
Recently, in voting for the speaker in Tshwane, the DA allegedly mandated its 69 councillors to make a mark using a unique number given to each councillor.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa declared those as spoilt ballot papers, and rightfully so. Once a mark on the ballot is centrally co-ordinated to identify how people voted, it undermines the secrecy of the vote.
It is clear that even opposition parties resort to undemocratic means when their interests are threatened — the same parties that advocate for ANC public representatives to vote against party directives and exercise their conscience.
The opposition demonstrated that there is no space for conscience within their own ranks.
The road towards 2024 demands a different type of politics, one that will animate South Africans to go out and vote in droves. The consolidation of opposition parties is a noble pursuit that will not succeed. The question then becomes, what is to be done to conceive of an alternative political vehicle?
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