Are the wheels of Cyril’s campaigning coming off as township voters increasingly reject him as not trustworthy?

By: Clyde Ramalaine

On the campaign trail to win hearts and votes for an imminent 1 November, Local Government elections, parties, and independent representatives flood South Africa’s neglected townships. They return to the bequeathed legacy of apartheid and increasingly ANC majority party-led state’s immortalization.

Among those who vie for voters’ endorsement is the African National Congress as led by its President Cyril Ramaphosa. As is the practice in ANC tradition, election campaigns are led from the front by its president. There are, however, twists and strange phenomena to be observed in Ramaphosa’s style of campaigning. After 500 days of lockdown hiatus, Ramaphosa finds the township voter less enthusiastic in his repeated 2019 National campaign jokes and even less interested in entertaining his glaring vaccination drives. Encountering hostile audiences in several townships is not what Mr. Public relations signed up for.

In another season of the 2019 National elections, ANC elections head NEC member Fikile Mbalula accredited the ANC victory solely to Ramaphosa. Mbalula was at pains to explain that had it not been for the individual, Ramaphosa’s personal triumph at Nasrec, the ANC would have dropped to 40%. The outcome of the National elections saw the ANC win by 57,50%, the lowest since, for the first time, the ANC dipped under 60% of a national endorsement.

This local government election of 2021 is the second with Ramaphosa as the face of the ANC campaign, meaning there can be no excuses to blame his predecessor that some conveniently want to advance. There is little doubt that the elections of 1 November will be the litmus test of the Ramaphosa ANC leadership, at least at this tier of governance. Of course, there are linkages between national and local elections while they are not the same. Already having lost most Metros and having to depend on coalition deals to stay in power, we may only wonder how the ANC will do in this season. There is little doubt that the Patriotic Alliance have made significant inroads into ANC and DA constituencies in critical areas, and we must wait to see what the final outcomes show. However, looking at the PA and its phenomenal and spontaneous growth is my musing for next week.

We soon learned that Ramaphosa has at least two buses of supporters who accompany him to all visits to ensure he is not drowned out by a hostile crowd who seeks to keep him accountable to his promises that he hitherto has failed to make a stand. Not only does the Ramaphosa campaigning rely on his own hired crowd when he visits townships, but he has resorted to strange and somewhat un-ANC behaviour in addressing the crowds. As was the case in ANC troublesome Tshwane, his busload of fans were there, and he felt it his right to disrespect voters and citizens, shouting at them to shut up because they are drunk.

It was not the first time Ramaphosa told people to shut up. Yes, he told John Steenhuizen in parliament to shut up, which is not standard for the decorum of parliament. While Steenhuizen could find means to challenge his assertion for the space of the statement, the ordinary poor, unemployed, and struggling black citizen of SA who remains disenfranchised is demanded by the political elite of the ANC to be patient.

The lady in question was seeking answers on electricity costs, a genuine concern for many more, so the poor and unemployed who remain trapped in disenfranchisement, instead of telling the woman calmly to await her turn for him to address some of the other people’s concerns. Ramaphosa put her down and told her not to talk while he was talking. You will recall that his office on 30 September issued a warning to the former Ukhozi FM Maskandi DJ Ngizwe Mchunu, accusing the latter of showing disrespect for Ramaphosa’s addressing of SA. The exact words: “The president remains concerned that Mchunu is persistently live-streaming his speeches in such a way that it clashes with Presidency activities. The Presidency wishes to confirm that despite repeated calls for the rescheduling of the delivery to 21h00, the president will address the nation at 20h00 this evening, Thursday, 30 September 2021. ” [sic]  Somehow, in Ramaphosa’s mind, everyone must just shut up since he talks.

Well, he quickly figured out how to deal with the undeniable hostility of thinking voters who know this president don’t do well in being asked direct questions from the floor. Voters and citizens who suffered under his politically orchestrated lockdowns are seeking him to account for the failure of his leadership at the basic service delivery levels across SA. He will come with his own busloads full.

This week, the ANC president Ramaphosa literally dodged Soweto residents, where he three weeks ago was also confronted by citizens who complained about persistent blackouts and intermittent electricity supply. In his trademark typical smooth talk style, Ramaphosa repeated what he did when he visited Alexandra Township, where he promised to build 1 million homes. Three weeks ago, he made wild and cheap promises to have answers in two weeks. Well, the two weeks came and is gone, and citizens whom he made that promise to seek to hold him accountable if they can only find him.

He made promises disconnected from any evidence of a meaningful discernible process but literally political talk. As Curtis Tyrone, Jones told us: “Those who disrespect you with their mouth don’t deserve your ear.” Nomzamo Settlement residents where he promised to fix the electricity challenges are simply not impressed with his no-showing. In Chiawelo, residents pointedly accused him of being a liar. In Naledi, the interviewed residents call him out for his empty promises and say, you cannot trust this guy. Tshwane residents want answers. They were saying what Mario Puzo explained, ‘actions defined a man: words were a fart in the wind.’

Video of eNCA YouTube

Unfortunately, ANC president, Ramaphosa appears more interested to play his chief marketing vaccine role, often forgetting citizens and voters in a local elections season is about service delivery, not multinational pharmaceutical interest to jab many more. Ramaphosa is probably the lowest of ANC presidential leadership in election mode. None of his predecessors ever on a campaign trail resorted to being this uncouth and arrogant towards those he seeks endorsement from. You must be courageous to come and seek my vote and tell me to shut up because I am drunk.

What to make of a dodging president who travels with his own hired crowd, a first in ANC history, highly intolerant to ordinary blacks seeking to keep him to account? What then to make of a president who can tell SA citizens to shut up and tell them they are drunk and must be quiet? Let us first accept Ramaphosa models precisely what is wrong with the ANC at the highest level. The arrogance of a crop of ANC leaders like Oscar Mabuyane who think themselves very important and has scant regard for the black masses. If Mabuyane is this arrogant to threaten the Hawks with an interdict, his president can tell citizens to shut up and accuse them of being drunk.

This leadership’s failure to serve the constituency that entrusted them for consecutive elections have matured into the arrogance of disrespect. Ramaphosa’s blatant shutting down a woman at another level attests to his chauvinistic and patriarchal entitlement that women must be quiet when he speaks. Does he tell a woman to shut up in public not translate to public humiliation and a form of gender-based violence? Or does the president have control and temper issues that his smile belies?

What does this mean for the ANC? Are the wheels of Cyril’s campaigning coming off as the township voters increasingly reject him? Will Mbalula be willing to tell us the ANC dropped because of Ramaphosa? Let us wait and see.