On Monday South Africans across every creed took to the polls to make their mark on the canvass of democracy. However, this time around less than half of those eligible to vote took to the polls and the ramifications of this presents a scary reality for South Africa’s democratic project. Moreover, for the country’s most dominant party in post-apartheid South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) these elections have been a clear rebuke of the culture of corruption, failed promises, and factionalism that has defined the party for the past 16 years. 

Perhaps let's look to the former first. South Africa’s voter participation has until these elections seen a turn-up rate of between 60% - 76% since 1994. However, the failure to see a majority of those eligible to vote coming out to do so is an indication of societal loss of trust in the importance of elections in shaping how political parties behave or view the importance of placing the interests of the nation over their interests. In other words, many South Africans have concluded that their participation in the elections is no longer about giving a party or independent candidate the legitimacy to meet their interests but rather a free pass for self-enrichment. This is a sad reality that points to mistrust in democracy and the democratic institutions that hold the republic together. Moreover, it begs the question, if the people have lost trust in this constitutional tool of election and accountability, what other modus is available to the masses? Well, the answer is more delivery service protests and civil strike actions across the board. 

Now for the ANC, these elections represent their worst performance since 1994 and highlight that for the first time the party that produced titans like O.R. Tambo, Albert Luthuli, and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is no longer the vanguard of the liberation project in South Africa. The fact is Luthuli House is no longer where the centre holds and even though Ramaphosa is far more popular than the party, it was not enough to convince South Africans to stick with the ANC. Now the question is what is the impact of these elections on Ramaphosa’s chances to get a second term as ANC president in next year’s elective conference? 

There is general agreement that the loss of major metros like the City of Johannesburg and Tshwane in 2016, largely led to the downfall of Jacob Zuma, when the ANC rejected his preferred candidate (Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma) for the ANC presidency in 2017’s elective conference. As a result, he was forced to resign in 2018 when the party deemed him unfit to continue as the president of the republic. It would be easy to bestow to Ramaphosa this very same fate but there are no simple conclusions to complex cases! 

Firstly, where Zuma’s unpopularity aided in ANC's loss of votes in 2016, Ramaphosa’s popularity on the other hand may have saved the party from an even worse result. For example, take Soweto where electricity blackouts have angered communities, ANC still managed to achieve 50.6% of the vote. One just imagines what that result would have been had it not been Ramaphosa on the election ballot. The ANC’S 46% should not be viewed as a rebuke of Ramaphosa but a recognition that the power of personality politics has its limits. For the first time, the party as a whole and its record in government were on the ballot. As a result, doing away with Ramaphosa may just make matter worse. What the ANC should do is come together and support Ramaphosa's agenda to renew the ANC. Moreover, if many of the ANC’s elite is to keep their jobs and perks, the choice between maintaining an uneasy unity of the party and cleaning up the shop is simple. My view is that these elections will strengthen Ramaphosa’s hand and ability to push reforms in the party that is much needed if it is to turn around its fortunes in 2024. 

The paradox of these elections is that they may have been the elections to save the ANC through forcing the kind of changes needed. Corruption, state capture, and factionalism are the root of the ANC’s fall from grace. However, ANC has been aided by a weak political opposition in the form of the Democratic Alliance (DA). The party that used to coalesce on the grounds of building a broad church of support, chose to go back to its roots of protecting white conservative interests at the betrayal of building a united coalition of support. Moreover, its denial of race politics has put it at odds with the masses, who continue to remain marginalised from the mainstream economy. The DA suffered heavy losses of support in Johannesburg, where its former Mayor for Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba’s Action SÁ took 17% of the vote and is posed to be the kingmaker in Johannesburg. 

It is clear by these results that the ANC’s and the DA’s dominance in South African politics will be threatened by 4 parties; The Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), The Freedom Front Plus (VP+), and to a lesser degree Action SÁ. However, rather than view, the trajectory to coalition politics has the gloom and doom of our democratic project, this is a chance for these parties to work together, Perhaps what South Africans are communicating is that rather than one party dominating the system, a government of national unity is what is needed again to bring about the change we need to see. This election and what it means for the national and provisional elections must be viewed from the points of the people’s interests and no longer what individuals stand to gain from access to state resources. This is a chance to build a new social contract and bring together various political formations to do the work of reforming South Africa for the better. The people have spoken!