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Pass, fail or average? We score the ANC's 30 years in office
The 2024 elections see the ANC in the dock, with the noose of state capture corruption, growing unemployment, crime and a floundering economy hanging around its neck.
With an uphill battle to climb to win the hearts and minds of voters in the face of declining support and low voter turnout, you'd think the ANC would have been ready to thrill and awe with its latest manifesto to fight off the reality we might land up with a national coalition government if it fails to achieve the needed majority.
Instead, the ANC appears to have pulled together a manifesto with vague points on how to fix the mess the party itself created.
Perhaps it is pinning its hope on the "nostalgic vote", hoping voters will jump on board with its theme of celebrating 30 years of democracy.
But the reality is many people are still waiting to reap the fruits of democracy.
A recent Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study revealed political discontent and disillusionment were the main reasons for electoral abstention as leaders fail to meet voters' democratic aspirations.
If the ANC hoped to attract voters with its latest manifesto, it may have missed the mark.
In this week's Friday Briefing, in-depth writer Muhammad Hussain looks at the 2019 manifesto, what was promised and delivered, and whether the same promises were made in the 2024 manifesto.
We also have an excerpt from the book Who will rule South Africa? Here News24's editor-in-chief, Adriaan Basson, and assistant editor, Qaanitah Hunter, consider 40 measurable or semi-measurable aims or goals to provide a report card of the party over 30 years.
Senior business reporter Renée Bonorchis takes a deep dive into the country's jobs crisis, writing the ANC has failed to address the issue by not dealing with eliminating load shedding.
Finally, the executive director of the Centre for Risk Analysis, Chris Hattingh, reflects on the declining quality of life in South Africa. He writes the ANC needs to rethink its ideological and policy choices if it returns to government to get the country back on track.
Hope the submissions give you food for thought before the 29 May election.
Best,
Vanessa Banton
Opinions editor.
Comparing the 2024 and 2019 ANC manifestos one realises how sparse, vague and repetitive the governing party's latest list of promises are. In 2019, the ANC promised a lot more than it does in 2024 - however, there were a fair few broken promises in the five years since, and maybe that's why the ANC opted for the less-is-more approach in 2024, writes Muhammad Hussain.
'Who will rule South Africa?': The ANC's better life for some
Adriaan Basson and Qaanitah Hunter in their latest book, 'Who will rule South Africa?' unpack the ANC’s promises of what constituted a better life for all into 40 measurable, or semi-measurable, aims or goals to provide a report card of the party over 30 years.
From the ANC's new dawn to its setting sun, and nary a job in sight
Even if Cyril Ramaphosa and his band of unmerry ministers had concentrated on nothing else from 2019, fixing Eskom could have snowballed into economic growth, investment and job creation, writes Renée Bonorchis.
ANC manifesto vague and Nixonian with little hope of creating a better life for all
From 1994 to 2008, the ANC achieved significant progress but subsequent ideological and policy choices undermined what was previously achieved. Chris Hattingh takes a look at the ANC's 2024 manifesto and finds it wanting.
