Exposed: ANC election plan for state PR events to showcase successes

The recent series of government launches and inauguration events is part of a deliberate electoral strategy that emerged in leaked audio of the ANC’s national executive committee election meeting in April.

“We need the government and the departments to present… what projects they are going to launch or reveal between now and the elections,” ANC electoral chief Mdumiseni Ntuli was heard saying at an April meeting, after having stressed that the government had to “aggressively communicate” its successes. .

Highlighting the need for a “seamlessly integrated” approach between what the ANC was doing and government interventions to complement this electoral work, Ntuli added: “Together we must plan: how is the ANC going to take advantage of this?”

Mid-April was set as the deadline for ministers, their provincial counterparts and departments to submit project plans, launches and the like, according to the leaked audio. Daily Maverick you’ve heard. And it appears that launches, deliveries and ribbon cuttings have accelerated since April.

Leaders from all over the country

On Tuesday in Gauteng, where Cancer treatment is often out of reach for patients. – patients and civil society protested that day over the prioritization of cancer treatment – ​​the provincial health department launched 17 new mortuary vans, now known as forensic pathology vehicles.

“Aesthetically inside and out, the vehicles are designed to look more professional than traditional bakkie-based mortuary vehicles, thereby promoting and preserving the dignity of the deceased,” a departmental statement said ahead of Tuesday’s launch.

The job activation programs implemented in all provinces by the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, are to be welcomed. But it is already late in his five-year mandate for what official statements describe as the “national rollout plan to create more than 700,000 employment opportunities across the country.”

Perhaps such an initiative could have been timed more effectively after the Covid lockdown devastated the job market.

But Nxesi and Communications Minister Mondli Gungubele got the nod from the Cosatu union, also an ANC alliance partner, for persuading business rescue professionals at the South African Post Office to halt 6,000 layoffs.

Read more at Daily Maverick: Elections 2024

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande also left at the end of his five-year term the creation of a fund to support so-called missing intermediate students: those from families too well-off to qualify for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and too poor to pay for tertiary education. education fees.

He R3.8 billion support It was finally announced in January 2024.

But Nzimande was not far behind in what is at stake. On April 29, at an elementary school in the Northwest, it delivered the technology for a multimedia laboratory intended for “modern teaching and learning services on computers powered by a photovoltaic solar energy system, which includes an inverter,” according to the official statement.

Agriculture, Land Affairs and Rural Development promoted its new headquarters as a reason to celebrate “the important milestone in the delivery of a world-class building, on time and on budget, through the public-private partnership agreement as part of the district development initiative of the national government. “, according to a statement prior to this presentation.

While the 2024 State of the Nation Address was a previous hook to show the government’s delivery, the most recent spate of launches and deliveries of everything from books to Limpopo products mmahlee public library “a new cannabis investor” in the Eastern Cape’s Coega special economic zone has ministers and their officials crisscrossing the country.

Sometimes they also try to do manual work, such as fixing potholes, with a camera in hand. In early March, Transport Minister Sindiswe Chikunga did just that in Kwaggafontein, Mpumalanga.

Coincidentally, Chikunga is praised in leaked audio of the ANC election meeting for her radio advertisement which, among other things, highlights the construction of new roads as an example of how South Africa today is better than it was under the apartheid regime before of 1994.

These government radio and television advertisements were touted as instrumental in describing the work done by the ANC over the past 30 years in government.

Low public trust

No one can say that nothing was achieved in the last 30 years, given, for example, greater access to housing, water and sanitation, education and an important social safety net. But voters often criticize politicians.

The criticism that politicians only go looking for votes when elections approach is a sentiment that is often expressed outside of government launches and transfers.

This indicates that low public trust and distancing from the government continues.

Long-term studies such as those carried out by the Human Sciences Research Council and the Afrobarometer have highlighted steadily declining levels of trust over the last 15 years, placing the ruling party at trust levels of around 27% and the political parties somewhat lower opposition numbers.

Cyril Ramaphosa, as president, scored a confidence level of 38% in the 2021 Afrobarometer survey, a rating that helps explain why the ANC has him as the face of its 2024 election campaign.

Low public confidence and skepticism extends to the absence of power outages for a month, with some wondering if this was simply a ploy to win votes.

The government, from the president to cabinet ministers and others, has worked to dismiss these perceptions.

Eskom maintains that the pause in scheduled power cuts was due to Better maintenance leading to better plant performance.. Of course, demand is also reducing as residents switch to solar, gas, paraffin and candles, depending on purchasing power.

The proof is in the pudding, and the return of blackouts will be closely watched due to the proximity of Election Day on May 29.

Promises, PR pitches and transfers during the election campaign are one thing. But what matters in South Africa’s constitutional democracy is consistently participatory, deliberative and quality governance. DM