TUESDAY EDITORIAL
The 2024 election is a once-in-a-decade opportunity
In January 2023, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba wrote that ‘we need an alliance of leaders and forces to say: Enough is enough!’, pointing out that ‘a plethora of independent movements is not enough’. But six months later ‘a plethora of independent movements’ is all we still have. Time is running out if we are to change the balance of power in the 2024 elections.
It is likely that the next general election in South Africa will take place within the next 12 months. Already, it is much talked about. New parties are being formed, such as the Progress Party, focusing on unemployment and jobs mainly in the Western Cape. One of the new kids on the block, Rise Mzansi, has declared that “2024 is our 1994”.
Several weeks ago seven opposition parties, led by the DA, announced an election pact and the holding of a national convention in August.
Anticipation of the 2024 election grows daily as people realise how badly the ANC is failing the country on every score. Conversations and convenings to discuss the crisis and ways to save South Africa take place weekly, often overlapping, but rarely resulting in decisive resolutions. Summits and conferences abound.
What is worrying, however, is that the people who count the most in an election – the overwhelming majority who make up the poor in South Africa, the 18 million people who depend one way or another on social grants, the people who bear the brunt of the ANC’s misrule – are largely being left out of the conversation.
Truth be told, although many people claim to speak for the poor, very few speak with the poor.
Leaving the poor out of solutions activism and democratic conversation leaves people prone to populism, ethnic mobilisation and misinformation. It compounds voter alienation, especially among young people. Ironically it risks cementing the very political status quo that all the middle-class chattering is so desperate to get away from.
It’s not that the poor are idle, apathetic or don’t understand what’s going on.
Civil society remains stuck in its silos inflicting mostly pin pricks on a government that has little shame and has learnt how to manage its slings and arrows.
Maverick Citizen reports daily on a multitude of initiatives that are driven by good people and organisations, aiming to build solidarity and security, protect peace and dignity. Visit The Actionists to meet some of these people and hear their ideas.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Keeping the lights of hope on — harnessing the real power of South Africa’s people
From what we witness we have no doubt that good people far outnumber those who are corrupt and criminal.
But at this moment, good people in South Africa lack a galvanising vision to cohere around. In January 2023, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba wrote that “we need an alliance of leaders and forces to say: ‘Enough is enough!’”, adding that “a plethora of independent movements is not enough”.
But six months later “a plethora of independent movements” is what we still have.
Many civil society organisations are doing incredible work to defend human rights. The victory achieved in the Pretoria High Court by the Helen Suzman Foundation, benefiting 178,000 people who hold Zimbabwean Exemption Permits is the latest example. The work of SECTION27 ensuring access to cancer treatment is another. The list is long.
Many individuals go beyond the call of duty as health workers, teachers, social workers and police.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Baby kidnapped from Gqeberha mall 7 months ago found by alert Dora Nginza Hospital social worker, admin clerk
But civil society is simultaneously failing to project a forward vision, it remains stuck in its silos inflicting mostly pin pricks on a government that has little shame and has learnt how to manage its slings and arrows.
Faith-based organisations are, in the words of one veteran priest, “thunderously silent”, only occasionally popping their heads above the pulpit. Where’s the spirit of Desmond Tutu? one often wonders. Will there ever be another Kairos Moment for the churches?
The danger is that time is running out.
A (very hard to find) survey carried out by the Human Sciences Research Council for the Electoral Commission, titled Democracy’s Dividend: Results from the Voter Participation Survey (2021), is a gold mine of information and reveals the scale of the challenge. It found that of people who were eligible to vote at the time of the survey:
- Slightly more than a quarter (28%) said they had never voted before;
- (Only) about a quarter said they were regular voters and 26% identified as irregular voters;
- Older people were less likely to report being regular voters than their younger counterparts; and
- Very low levels of self-reported regular voting were recorded by age-eligible Generation Z citizens, and almost everyone in this cohort (98%) said they had never voted.
We are already in the second half of 2023. While there are commendable but isolated voter registration campaigns, such as that organised by the Ground Work Collective in KwaZulu-Natal, by now one would have hoped to see mass voter registration campaigns in every province; NGOs and NGO networks fanning out into communities to instigate conversations, link up with local campaigns and offer constitutional education; plans and targets for how to persuade millions of young people to vote.
If civil society acts collectively and early enough there is a chance to define the critical issues and their solutions so that when political parties start their campaigns, people will be armed with hard information.
If civil society acts collectively and early enough there is time for voter education, so that people are less likely to be fooled by populist promises once again.
If civil society acts collectively and early enough there is time to talk about the Constitution and how the structure of government and all its policies should empower the poor through socioeconomic rights.
If civil society does not get more ambitious, more coordinated and more connected the opportunity presented by 2024 will be lost.
Campaigns like these will build people’s power in their communities. They are not just about the moment in 2024 when more than 30 million people could (theoretically) mark their ballots (although that should be galvanising civil society). They are about people’s power. Done effectively, their legacy could be a society more informed, more connected, and more able to demand social justice and accountability after the election.
There is lots to learn from campaigns and activists in other parts of the world, such as the Working Families Party in the US, where voter mobilisation in marginalised communities never stops.
This week, My Vote Counts is organising a meeting of social movements and NGOs titled “Towards the 2024 elections: Threats and Opportunities”. We hope it is more than another talk-shop.
The 2024 election is a once-in-a-decade opportunity. But leaving 2024 to 2024 will be leaving it too late – 2024 will yield nothing unless the groundwork is done.
While we fiddle and faff, sit in one conference after another, the corrupt continue to steal and disrupt.
If civil society does not get more ambitious, more coordinated and more connected the opportunity presented by 2024 will be lost. Then we will be in for five more years of corruption, dysfunction and deepening inequality.
We will have missed the opportunity democracy presented us. We will have only ourselves to blame.
But if civil society does act, there is an opportunity to recapture our country and tie it once more to a mandate for equality and social justice.
Which will it be? DM
Finding the right leaders to motivate all South Africans to determine our future is critical. Hope the ‘My Vote Counts’ meeting is a success
I think you have an overwhelming silence as an answer, Mark. Thankfully, a few DM corruption exposes closer to the election might cause a ripple of renewed discontent to motivate angered voters into polling stations. We can dream, but I suspect the Kairos moment has been and gone with Tuttu.
It’s time the DA got off its high middle class horse and make a concerted effort to interact with the poor masses of this country.
It’s all very well trying to reattach the Afrikaner vote, but this is never going to build them higher than a 20% opposition party.
If the DA ever want to govern South Africa, they HAVE TO connect with the rural communities and especially their leaders.
The ANC must go!
So what party are you going to vote for? Is it some wunderkind? Is it the best of the bunch? That will be the DA.
Well said
I totally agree with you Bruce. The DA needs to voice loudly that social grants will not be taken away.
I am a big believer that even the small(er) parties can become part of an anti-ANC coalition. The DA line that if you don’t vote for us you are wasting your vote is not helpful. The new smaller parties just have to make sure they say loudly that they will never support the ANC. That goes for the DA as well who show too much liking for joining the EFF or ANC to get into power.
The smaller parties have a democratic right to go their own way. To be EFFECTIVE against the ANC/EFF, joining a pact such as the MoonShot Pact will make them just that much MORE EFFECTIVE, MORE HELPFUL. To check on the “effectiveness” of some of the smaller parties just look at the chaos they (some) have caused in places such as Jo’burg and other municipalities.
Brilliant call to action. Not sure that there are sufficient listeners. Thank you for the passion and common sense combination
Forget last chance in a decade.
2024 is last chance. We either force ANC out or at worst force them to coalition or we are Zimbabwe by 2028.
Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba wrote that ‘we need an alliance of leaders and forces to say: Enough is enough!’,
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the DA’s MoonShot Pact!
I hear you Mark. I have often made comments about the lack of voter education in our communities and the absence of awareness of importance of voter education in our school curriculum. There are so many comments that make reference to voter education – and highlighting the initiatives already in progress is an excellent directional prod. But I still sense a feeling of defeat. I believe our country have a unique opportunity to be more creative than merely playing the political game. Exposè of ANC failures fall onto hungry and struggling to survive ears, and the already converted. What about a concerted effort between media and anti ANC political parties to get a free 4 page community paper/newsletter on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis into the communities in a language of their preference. Which can be collected by residents from centralised points. News, views, opinions and facts. Newspapers, however small, have a long life as it is passed on to neighbour, friend or family member. Get the conversation going. It is possible that many residents would welcome an opportunity to be part of a solution and options. Maybe all of this is unattainable or just wishful thinking. But anything that can ignite the conversation in communities. It is amazing what a few appropriate and enlightening articles can do. Giving them recognition of their value as opinion leaders and sources of wisdom.
Agreed. A well produced communication effort that targets the historically excluded in a style that is appropriate could have a real pay-off. It costs money. If the opposition parties genuinely start working together, I am sure those with deep pockets will come to the party. The time is short
It’s a sad fact that people will vote for a government that gives them something for nothing. With 18 million people receiving government benefits, who do you think they will vote for ? Rural communities have no hope of ever finding work, so they will not want to lose the benefits they are getting. Opposition parties must get the message out that these people will not lose their benefits if they vote for them. If this doesn’t happen we will have the same government we’ve got now.
@RobertPegg – “Opposition parties must get the message out that these people will not lose their benefits if they vote for them.” Absolutely!!! This is key!!!!
Now all we need is a decent opposition party – one that excludes Ms Zilla and does not have a white leader.
I will be the first to vote for that party.
Aren’t the policies of a party more important than the colour of a political leader’s skin? Your comment is typical of the attitude that perpetuates the reelection of the ANC.
I agree with Rob Glenister! (Of course not any party, that is implied).