Earth to ANC: Avoid disappointment - lower your expectations

--:--
The last election Jacob Zuma fought as leader of the ANC were the local government polls on 2016. The ANC vote collapsed to just over 54% nationally and set off a series of events that eventually saw him removed from office. Listen now as razor-sharp independent elections analyst Dawie Scholtz (@DawieScholtz on Twitter) tells Peter Bruce in this latest edition of Podcasts from the Edge that 54% at the 2021 local government elections on November 1 would be almost miraculous, so great has been the change in our political landscape. Scholtz and Bruce test the Democratic Alliance’s battle to bring out its base, perhaps especially the Afrikaans -speaking part of it, and the increasingly sophisticated strategising of the Economic Freedom Fighters as they try to plug the gaps in their constituency — women and the elderly.
18 Oct 2021 English South Africa News Commentary · Politics

Other recent episodes

The Power of One Tough Zulu

In 2020 young Mbali Ntuli took on the might of the Democratic Alliance establishment and ran for the leadership of the party against John Steenhuisen. Not unexpectedly, she lost and not long afterwards branched out on her own — not, like many of the black leaders who left the DA…
24 Apr 38 min

South Africa is a black country now

The ANC will win the forthcoming elections, the DA will come second and the EFF third, former ANC exile intelligence leader Oyama Mabandla tells Peter Bruce in this edition of Podcasts from the Edge. “Even if the ANC misfires,” he says, “there is still no alternative to it. In South…
17 Apr 46 min

Is that column doric or iconic?

Peter Bruce talks about being a columnist in this latest edition of Podcasts from the Edge. He approves of the notion that while columnists are nominally journalists they are driven by their own opinions and a powerful drive to grab the attention of their audience. Citing London Times columnist Matthew…
10 Apr 19 min

When business stops trying

Most of the import tariffs protecting South African companies in their home market have been in place for more than 20 years, trade expert Donald Mackay tells Peter Bruce in this episode of Podcasts from the Edge. That implies that in two decades the protected companies still have not become…
13 Mar 39 min

Time to step on the gas?

On July 1 2026, just more than 28 months from now, a vast swathe of South African industry — from manufacturers of car windscreens, beer bottles, industrial powders and even bakeries — will grind to a sudden stop unless the government rapidly intervenes to encourage the construction in Mozambique of…
27 Feb 51 min