ANC will remain influential despite drop in electoral support – analyst

Mashego was reacting to remarks by DA leader John Steenhuisen, who claimed over the weekend that the party’s internal polls show that the Multi-Party Charter had crossed the 50% mark in KwaZulu-Natal.

Steenhuisen was speaking at the DA’s first rally in its 2024 election campaign in Durban on Saturday.  

He said if the Multi-Party Charter, consisting of eight opposition parties, manages to grab power in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, it could also do the same nationally.

“Even if the ANC drops in support next year, it will still remain influential in what kind of a government is going to emerge because sometimes getting into power is more tricky because it is bigger than just getting into the Union Buildings and having more members in the National Assembly,” said Mashego.  

“It still means the infrastructure of government which the ANC has built over the years, and if you don’t want the ANC to be part of it, you will need to replace a whole lot of people ambassadors, high commissioners, DG’s and I don’t think there is any party now with that kind of skill depth to replace the ANC in that way”.        

Mashego said a victory for the collection of opposition parties would not necessarily put the DA in power. 

“Any coalition that is solid will put the ANC out of power, but Steenhuisen should not really think that a victory for a coalition in KZN is a victory for the DA. That’s too optimistic of him. Also, given the dynamics of the country, even if the DA were to get a big chunk of the votes, I think the mood in the country and the history of the country wouldn’t really allow for somebody like Steenhuisen to become the president of the country”.  

“You still need somebody who the majority can look at and be comfortable leading the country instead of having somebody from a racial group, unfortunately, that used to dominate the country because that is going to look like the old system is back.” 

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