(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The ruling African National Congress (ANC) party remains the single most powerful political organization in South Africa, according to a poll by Plus 94 Research Group released by SABC. 61 per cent of respondents would vote for the ANC in this month’s general election.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The ruling African National Congress (ANC) party remains the single most powerful political organization in South Africa, according to a poll by Plus 94 Research Group released by SABC. 61 per cent of respondents would vote for the ANC in this month’s general election.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is a distant second with 16 per cent, followed by the Congress of the People (COPE) with 15 per cent.
Thabo Mbeki replaced Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s president after the 1999 general election, where the ANC received 66.4 per cent of the vote. Mbeki led the ANC to a second majority government in April 2004.
In December 2007, Jacob Zuma defeated Mbeki in an internal leadership ballot and became the new leader of the ANC.
The rivalry between Zuma and Mbeki brought the ANC to a major crisis. In September 2008, a High Court judge dismissed corruption charges that had been laid against Zuma and accused the Mbeki administration of influencing the prosecution of the accused. On Sept. 21, following the country’s ruling favouring Zuma, Mbeki tendered his resignation as president.
In late September 2008, lawmakers elected ANC deputy leader Kgalema Motlanthe—a former labour leader and former member of the military wing of the party—to replace Mbeki as president. Motlanthe is a close Zuma ally. Zuma is the ANC’s presidential candidate in this year’s legislative election, scheduled for Apr. 22.
In November 2008, close to 6,500 dissident members of the ANC met in Johannesburg and agreed on the creation of COPE, a new political party that includes many supporters of Mbeki who have criticized the ANC for being a "corrupt" and "authoritarian" organization. Former ANC members Mosiuoa Lekota, Mbhazima Shilowa and Mluleki George are COPE’s leaders.
Last month, the government denied the Dalai Lama entry to South Africa, saying that the presence of the Tibetan spiritual leader in a peace conference was "not in the country’s interests." South Africa has a growing trade relationship with China, which sees the Dalai Lama as a threat to its national unity.
On Mar. 24, Mandla Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela and an ANC legislative candidate—also an organizer of the pace summit the Dalai Lama was supposed to attend—accused the government of placing commercial relations with China before national sovereignty. Mandela declared: "For me personally and given the role my grandfather played in founding our democracy, this rejection by the government to not issue a visa is really tainting our own efforts at democracy. (…) It’s a sad day for South Africa, it’s a sad day for Africa. We are a nation which is striving to be a leader in the African continent. I don’t think as a sovereign independent country we need to succumb to international pressure."
Polling Data
Which party would you vote for in the general election?
|
African National Congress (ANC) |
61% |
|
Democratic Alliance (DA) |
16% |
|
Congress of the People (COPE) |
15% |
|
Other parties |
8% |
Source: Plus 94 Research Group / SABC
Methodology: Interviews with 3,500 South African adults, conducted in March 2009. Margin of error is 1.7 per cent.
