futurefact finds's blog

So stated a voter from Richard’s Bay interviewed for Freedom House’s report: 20 Years of Democracy.

futurefact finds a similar sentiment with 58% of South Africans saying that “I am wasting my vote if I don’t vote for the party that’s likely to win”. This rose to 66% among those in the ANC camp and dropped to 38% among those in the DA camp.

Trevor Manuel is (or was) one of the ANC’s best assets. Someone not tainted by the stench of corruption, someone with impeccable struggle credentials, someone not afraid to confront racist comments or difficult issues head-on. A politician that most people TRUST in a country where 85% say that politicians are only interested in themselves and in power. 

"It is very important to recognise that this is a historic moment where we will take away the excuse of race and allow people to be judged on their performance. It is time for South Africa to demand the government they deserve, not one that hides behind the race card. We are throwing the race card in the dustbin," Dr Mamphela Ramphele on joining the DA. 

A somewhat chastened Dr Ramphele has just joined the DA about 10 months after she spurned their advances and formed her own political movement. 

In his column The Big Read in The Times of 13 January 2014, Justice Malala wrote: “The answer to why the party (the ANC) will lose votes, though, is not just in its deeds. It is in its misdeeds, its inability to rejuvenate and shear itself of them, and crucially in its failure to convince an increasingly restless populace that it is the custodian of their future.” 

2014 marks our twentieth year of democracy and the question being asked is whether President Zuma, with his increasingly heavy personal baggage is turning into a serious liability for the ANC as it faces the electorate in 2014?