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Reading through social and news media comments it has become obvious to me that people don’t understand why Jacob Zuma is in the position that he is and why the ANC will defend him to the ends of the Earth.
Let me take this opportunity to clarify this for those who don’t understand Politics.
Firstly, if you didn’t know already which I highly doubt, Zuma is a Zulu and his home town is KwaZulu Natal.
KZN is currently the ANC’s biggest stronghold of support in the country. The ANC stands unrivalled in KZN with 64% of the vote, with the DA trailing miles behind at 12%.
Now let’s take a moment to travel back in time to 1994.....
The IFP, Inkatha Freedom Party led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, dominated KZN with 56% of the votes with the ANC lagging behind at 36% of the votes. At the time the ANC was being led by Nelson Mandela who was a Xhosa who’s home town is in the Eastern Cape. The ANC stands unrivalled in the EC with 70% of the votes but only contributes 1,5 Million to the ANC’s National number of 11 Million votes.
Are you following? The ANC never has to worry about losing votes in Mandela’s home town for obvious reasons, that will never happen, or at least not for another extremely long time especially when the next party is standing at a ridiculous 16%.....that’s a whopping 54% gap. It’s crazy how unrivalled the ANC is in the EC, but that’s Madiba’s home....come on, it makes sense right?
The ANC votes in KZN contribute 2,5 Million votes to the ANC’s National number. In 1994 the IFP dominated with 54% with Zulu born Buthulezi steering the ship. In the 90’s IFP supporters who were Zulu Loyalists were at war with ANC supporters because Buthulezi focused more on ethnic interests than on national unity.
This works well for Zulu’s who dominate KZN. Are you starting to see where this is going?.....Can you see now that Zuma currently focuses more on ethnic interests than on national unity?
In 1999, the IFP still retained KZN with 41% of the votes. In 1999 Thabo Mbeki who is Xhosa took over from Mandela. Having Zulu born Zuma as deputy President and due to continuing and steady growth, in 2004 the ANC swung the pendulum and landed 10 points ahead of the IFP with 46% of the votes.
This is not satisfactory for the ANC so they now need to derive a strategy to completely annihilate any opposition in KZN. So in 2009 Zuma, a Zulu from KZN, runs for office and all of a sudden the ANC jumps to a whopping 40 point lead over the IFP with 62% to IFP’s meagre 22%. You have just witnessed modern day tribal warfare in all its glory!
And since having Zuma in office the ANC support burnt up all it’s opposition in KZN like wildfire leaving the IFP in a tiny heap of humiliated ash. In this year’s election the ANC finished at 64% in KZN with IFP dropping to 3rd place with only 10% and the DA in 2nd with 12%.
The ANC know what they need to do to build and retain their strongholds. And don’t be fooled for one minute and believe that they will deviate even slightly from that plan.
You see, Zuma can do whatever he pleases and the ANC will back him up because they need the support that Zuma wields in KZN. Whatever we or the media or opposition parties say about Zuma the ANC can run along and tell their tribal friends in KZN that it’s all a lie and a deliberate smear campaign and the people of KZN will believe them whole heartedly.
In KZN, Zuma is a saint, he is revered and even worshipped in many communities. You cannot tell those people anything about Zuma unless it is positive and in line with their beliefs. You could say that in KZN, Zuma is a GOD. Seriously, next time you might find yourself in that area, stop your car and ask the locals what they think about Zuma. When they’re done explaining you might fall in love with him yourself.
Do you think the locals in KZN are as appalled as we are about the upgrades at Nkandla? If it were up to them Zuma’s home would be 10 times that size with 20 fire pools and 40 cattle kraals.
Now you understand South African politics.
Politics in SA is not about who has the best policies but it is rather a race based tribal war. The DA doesn’t really fair well there with a bunch of whities making noise. That’s why Helen Zille was too hasty at introducing a black face as the new DA leader in this last Election.
Mamphele reversed her decision to stand as DA leader and subsequently resigned from politics completely, acknowledging that South Africans were unable to overcome race-based party politics.
Once Zille has cleaned all the egg off her face she will find her next prodigy and it will most likely be a revered Zulu from KZN if she understands the game and wants to play it.
That’s South African Politics 101.
