Representatives of political parties in Makana have criticised media coverage in the lead-up to the national and provincial elections on 7 May.
Representatives of political parties in Makana have criticised media coverage in the lead-up to the national and provincial elections on 7 May.
Despite a convincing 68.50% local victory the ANC had strong words for the media after the results were announced.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail this week about his party's performance in the elections, the ANC’s Sara Baartman and regional secretary, Scara Njadayi said, "We have done very well at Rhodes University with more than 600 votes, and also in Ward 8. We lost that ward to the DA in 2011 but we have done well compared to the DA in that Ward in this election. We also did dramatically well in Ward 3, which is a DA Ward, and retained support in Ward 2 – and that ward is the backbone of the ANC in that sub-region. Overall the analysis of the Voting district shows support for the ANC is intact.”
Njadayi said the ANC will, however, not be pleased until they get 100% of the votes in the Makana sub-region. "We are going to build up for that support for the 2016 local government elections; we will work very hard in consolidating the ANC's support."
However Njadayi admits that they were not thoroughly prepared for the 2014 election.
"What was problematic is the ineffectiveness of councillors – and in the absence of information people get fed wrong information by the media. I think this was a very difficult election for the ANC. There was negative reporting by the media, while we were being contested by other political parties. The media proved to be another opposition of the ANC, but we disappointed everybody," said Njadayi.
He said polls prior to the elections predicted that the ANC wouldn’t even gain 55% of the vote. "Despite all that, we succeeded," he said.
Agang SA local member Jock McConnachie felt smaller political parties like his had to fight for media coverage leading up to the elections, while parties like the EFF were constantly in the spotlight.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail on Tuesday, McConnachie said he was busy analysing the provincial results, adding that it appeared the party did better in Makana than anywhere else in the province.
Despite the party's campaign committee putting in all the hard work during the campaigning period McConnachie conceded that putting in the work doesn't always produce the desired results. He admitted that he was surprised by the EFF's performance in the elections.
"The EFF performed a lot better than I expected. Clearly they tapped into something, I think they got more than they deserved. In terms of effort, they definitely did a lot less than us," he said.
McConnachie said he believed that part of the reason behind the EFF's performance was the backing of the media. "They had the media behind the party. I don't know why. Only the media knows why," he said.
He also conceded that the failed partnership between Agang and the DA was a factor in their poor showing at the elections. “It seems like it was definitely a factor. It seems like people bought the DA story," he said. The media did not concern itself with getting to the bottom of the story regarding the failed partnership, he said.
McConnachie said they will think about the local government elections when the time comes.
The Congress of the People (Cope) had one of the worst performances in the elections, especially when compared with the 2009 elections, where they scooped up 30 seats in Parliament compared to the three they came away with after May 7.
Cope Councillor, Ruth Plaatjie, said they were very disappointed with the party's performance in the elections. "Although we are aware of the challenges we faced leading up the elections, we did not expect such a drastic drop," she said.
Plaatjie acknowledged that the court battle between the party's leaders played a significant role in their elections results, but said this did not signify the collapse of the party.
"We will go out to our people and urge them to continue to support the party and ensure all our branches are strengthened for the local government elections," she said.
Plaatjie said they had learned a valuable lesson from this experience.
Azania People's Organisation (Azapo) chairperson in the Eastern Cape, Lungile Dick, criticised South Africans for their continuous support of the ANC despite the party “failing them for 20 years”. Speaking to Grocott's Mail on Wednesday, during post-election analysis interview, Dick said, “It doesn't matter how the ANC treats them they still vote for them because they are sentimental and loyal towards the party and Mandela."
He said this was one of the factors that contributed to Azapo's dismal performance in this year's elections.
Azapo has lost its only parliamentary seat, which it had held for fifteen years.
He said that ideas of black consciousness and pan-Africanism are no longer effective and have lost value among the modern voters. "The masses have been brainwashed – especially the born-frees – because they don't understand their history well, but just go with the flow," said Dick.
He said parties with controversial figures do well to capture the minds of voters and made reference to EFF.
On the question of whether they will still continue to contest elections in the future Dick said, "It makes no difference whether we are in Parliament or not; our existence is not determined by Parliament but the love for our people and this country.”
The DA is not unhappy with the Makana results. Councillor Brian Fargher said they have increased the party's votes except in one Ward. "Naturally we are happy and we are moving straight away for the 2016 local government elections," he said.
Fargher said they were optimistic and excited about the upcoming local government elections because the people feel their voice has been neglected and that service delivery is appalling.
He emphasised that he was referring to the provincial votes and not the national results.
Makana results in the national election on 7 May 2014
- ANC 22,560 68.50 %
- DA 7,219 21.92 %
- AGANG SA 245 0.74 %
- COPE 311 0.94 %
- AZAPO 266 0.81 %
