IT TOOK more than 30 years for someone high up in the ANC leadership to grasp a simple, basic truth. Former pres. Thabo Mbeki told an ANC audience in Gauteng last Sunday that if the ANC governments at national, provincial and local level provided proper services to the people, the electorate would vote for them again.
Until now, the ANC approach seemed to be that rhetoric about the national democratic revolution, nostalgia about the struggle and accusing fingers at apartheid and the privileged white minority would be the road to popularity at the ballot box. Mbeki himself was partly to blame when he was vice-president and then president.
But the glue of the struggle has long since lost its adhesiveness. Poll upon poll, and election result upon election result, have shown that South African voters are no longer interested in ideology or struggle romanticisation, but simply want a better life and more hope for their children. A country that really works...
Register for free to read this article.
Hello! Vrye Weekblad moved from Arena Holdings to the Nuwe Vrye Weekblad Media Group on 1 October
2022. This means that we must ask you to create a reader profile again.
For October, which C. Louis Leipoldt did not call "the most beautiful month" for nothing, this will give you access
to all articles published in that month.
We hope this gives Arena enough time to pay out all outstanding subscription fees to current subscribers.
From 1 January 2023 you will take out a subscription. But for now everything is mahala! Enjoy it. And thanks for
being with us again!
STRUGGLE GLUE NOT STICKING ANYMORE
Politics Notebook | On Wilgenhof, John’s shock troops and orange overalls in parliament
MAX DU PREEZ is looking for a new name for the Wilgenhof Hostel and wonders whether Dirk and Kallie have now become John's political lifeguards.
Share
IT TOOK more than 30 years for someone high up in the ANC leadership to grasp a simple, basic truth. Former pres. Thabo Mbeki told an ANC audience in Gauteng last Sunday that if the ANC governments at national, provincial and local level provided proper services to the people, the electorate would vote for them again.
Until now, the ANC approach seemed to be that rhetoric about the national democratic revolution, nostalgia about the struggle and accusing fingers at apartheid and the privileged white minority would be the road to popularity at the ballot box. Mbeki himself was partly to blame when he was vice-president and then president.
But the glue of the struggle has long since lost its adhesiveness. Poll upon poll, and election result upon election result, have shown that South African voters are no longer interested in ideology or struggle romanticisation, but simply want a better life and more hope for their children. A country that really works...
Register for free to read this article.
Hello! Vrye Weekblad moved from Arena Holdings to the Nuwe Vrye Weekblad Media Group on 1 October 2022. This means that we must ask you to create a reader profile again.
For October, which C. Louis Leipoldt did not call "the most beautiful month" for nothing, this will give you access to all articles published in that month.
We hope this gives Arena enough time to pay out all outstanding subscription fees to current subscribers.
From 1 January 2023 you will take out a subscription. But for now everything is mahala! Enjoy it. And thanks for being with us again!
Already registered? Click "Sign Up" to continue
For new VWB 3.0 enquiries: WhatsApp 082 897 2721 (for text messages only) or email hulp@vryeweekblad.com.
Related Articles
The Wilgenhof I knew and love
Fingers pointing, but what about?
From Doop to the Naglig surprise
Is Steenhuisen and Zille’s alt-right slip showing?
Right-wing extremism has run out of steam
Blood on the brain in Battle of 1C
Dossier of Hope #2 | People of Prieska
Share
-
Share
-
-
-
-
-
-
Next articleMax du Preez
Editor-in-chiefMax du Preez is the editor-in-chief of Vrye Weekblad. He was the founding editor of the original Vrye Weekblad.