Amid the polycrises that have been thrust at South Africans over the past 30 years of ANC rule, the disgraced party is again appealing to a most disgruntled electorate to vote for it. Should they be given another chance, asks Ebrahim Harvey.
The decline of the ruling ANC has not been as dramatic as some think. In the 10 years between 1994 and 2004, the ANC won the national elections very comfortably and indeed strode the political stage like a colossus.
This should be no surprise because that has largely been the electoral trend in the rest of Africa. In the first decade after countries gained political independence from various colonial powers, led by their respective national liberation movements, national liberation parties comfortably won their first democratic elections. This process began with Ghana gaining independence from Britain in 1959.