ROAD TO 2024 ELECTIONS ANALYSIS
Leaked audio exposes ANC election plan for government PR events to showcase successes
From aesthetic mortuary vehicles to books and solar panels, government has thrown itself into a spate of launches, handovers and cutting of ribbons to highlight the ANC’s delivery record as the 29 May poll approaches.
Government’s recent spate of launches and ribbon-cutting events is part of a deliberate election strategy that emerged in the leaked audio of April’s ANC national executive committee elections meeting.
“We need government and departments to submit … what projects they are going to launch or unveil between now and the elections,” ANC elections boss Mdumiseni Ntuli was heard telling the meeting in April, after having emphasised 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 election work, Ntuli added, “Together we must plan: how is the ANC going to take advantage of this?”
Mid-April was given as the deadline for ministers, their provincial counterparts and departments to submit plans for projects, launches and the like, according to the leaked audio Daily Maverick has heard. And it seems the launches, handovers and cutting of ribbons have accelerated since April.
Leaders criss-cross country
On Tuesday in Gauteng, where cancer treatment often is beyond patients’ access – patients and civil society protested that day for the prioritisation 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 the traditional bakkie-based mortuary vehicles, thus promoting and preserving the dignity of the deceased,” said a departmental statement ahead of Tuesday’s launch.
The labour activation programmes rolled out across provinces by Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi must be welcomed. But it’s late in his five-year term for what official statements describe as the “national roll-out plan to create more than 700,000 employment opportunities across the country”.
Such an initiative could have perhaps been more effectively timed after the Covid lockdown devastated the jobs market.
But Nxesi and Communications Minister Mondli Gungubele got the thumbs up from labour union Cosatu, also an ANC alliance partner, for persuading the SA Post Office’s business rescue practitioners to stop 6,000 retrenchments.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Elections 2024
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande also left it late in his five-year term to establish a fund to support the so-called missing middle students – those from families too well off to qualify for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and too poor to pay tertiary education fees.
The R3.8-billion support was finally announced in January 2024.
But Nzimande was not lagging behind in the handover stakes. On 29 April at a North West primary school, he handed over technology for a media laboratory for “modern-day teaching and learning services on computers powered by a solar photovoltaic energy system, which includes an inverter”, according to the official statement.
The agriculture, land affairs and rural development touted its new HQ as cause to celebrate “the significant milestone in the delivery of a world class building, within time and budget, through the public-private partnership agreement as part of the national government’s precinct development initiative”, according to a statement ahead of this unveiling.
While the 2024 State of the Nation Address was an earlier hook to showcase government delivery, the more recent rush of launches and handovers of anything from books to Limpopo’s Mmahlee public library to “a new cannabis investor” in the Eastern Cape’s Coega special economic zone has ministers and their officials bounding all around the country.
Sometimes they also try their hand at manual labour like fixing potholes – with a camera at hand. In early March, Transport Minister Sindiswe Chikunga did just that in Kwaggafontein in Mpumalanga.
Coincidentally, Chikunga is lauded in the leaked ANC election meeting audio for her radio advert which, among others, highlights new roads being built as an example of how South Africa today is better than it was under apartheid rule prior to 1994.
Such radio and television government adverts were touted as central to outlining the governing ANC’s work done over the past 30 years in government.
Low public trust
No one can say nothing was achieved over the past 30 years, given, for example, increased access to housing, water and sanitation, education and a significant social security net. But voters frequently call out the politicians.
Criticism that politicians only show up to canvass for votes as an election nears is a sentiment often expressed on the sidelines of government launches and handovers.
This signals continuing low public trust and distance from government.
Long-term studies like those done by the Human Sciences Research Council and Afrobarometer have highlighted persistently declining trust levels over the past 15 years – and put the governing party at trust levels around the 27% mark and opposition parties somewhat lower.
Cyril Ramaphosa as President scored a 38% trust level in the Afrobarometer 2021 survey, a rating that helps explain why the ANC has him as the face of its 2024 election campaign.
Low public trust and scepticism extend to the month-long absence of power cuts, with some questioning whether this was simply a ploy to win votes.
Government, from the President down to Cabinet ministers and others, has been at pains to dismiss these perceptions.
Eskom maintains that the pause in scheduled electricity outages was due to better maintenance leading to improved plant performance. Of course, demand is also reduced as residents switch to solar, gas, paraffin and candles, depending on spending power.
The proof is in the pudding – and the return of the rolling blackouts will be closely watched for proximity to the 29 May election day.
Promises, PR launches and handovers on the election campaign trail are one thing. But what matters in South Africa’s constitutional democracy is consistently participatory, deliberative and quality governance. DM
Desperate electioneering at its best.
Just like Eskom is on the up and power outages are on the down.
Next will be the door to doors proclaiming that the ancestors will be disenchanted by not voting for these ANC pillocks.
And that any other vote will be a return to apartheid.
Make your votes count folks, else don’t complain.
I’m sorry ANC but you are just embarrassing. It is time to go, we need better.
Polishing a turd doesn’t make it any less of a turd. I for one am astounded that the ANC has remained in power this long with all the corruption and maladministration. The saddest part is that the fact that they are still in power actually says more about the voters than it does about the ANC.
Clearly we are a country who not only condones corruption and uselessness, but in fact rewards it.
Absolutely. We need some serious flushing.
Yes, Indeed, with your grey water, if you please; winter is not going to be what we want it to be, I believe.
A PR campaign to highlight their successes….should be a very succinct campaign
Not a bad job. Sleep at the wheel, steal, and spark for a few weeks, then rinse and repeat. You need voters that will allow that, that’s all.
Desperate times
Please would you do the public a favour create a graph that shows the ANC’s promises over the past years and what they have actually achieved also in line with the financial budget allocation per sect in comparison to looted money per sections we have an idea of how many promise they have made how they have failed at every one.
“…ANCs delivery record…” and “…it’s successes…”. All you have to do is look at the Western Cape to see that one province, managed by the opposition, has a better delivery record and a higher success rate than the ANC has in the whole rest of the country…
The ANC is rotten. From head the foot, it is rotten. It’s time for it to be put down like the sick creature it is. It’s beyond saving at this point.
Every single ANC Cadre should be unemployed in South Africa. They are getting paid ridiculous money for doing nothing and then still feeling the need to steal some more. The whole ANC Apparatus is a disgrace to the lives there were lost fighting for freedom in South Africa.
Unemployed? They should be IN JAIL – for High Treason, no less
You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
The current downpour of grand unveilings, cutting of ribbons, and the grinning and posturing accompanying it is campaigning at its most gauche.
The cringe factor is so high one tries to look away so as not to catch the overacting and the canned applause.
DM, not you too? The proof is never in the pudding! The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Isn’t it illegal to use public resources to promote party interests?
Has something being illegal ever stopped the ANC from doing it anyway?
“A better life for all” on their campaign posters is already such an obvious lie.
I’m sure the parents of Collins Khosa would disagree.
Or the millions of South Africans without jobs.
Or the people queueing for hours every day to get onto a taxi because the government has still not managed to create proper, safe, working public transport and has let the railways deteriorate.
Or the people with heart and lung disease from breathing in the structurally polluted air in large parts of the country.
Or the people that have been robbed, had their homes broken into, or been carjacked.
Why, exactly, does the ANC think they will create a better life for all?
Mortuary vans , cancer patients need the equipment to treat their cancer not mortuary vans, is that a joke and as for solar power I thought the anc told us it was the end of loadshedding ? Roads better than pre94, we hardly saw a pothole on tarred roads. If people are that gullible to belief any of the puff PR from this party then they deserve what they get. The anc continue to insult and disrespect those who vote for them.
Now we all know why load shedding is miraculously “finished”
F U C K E R S
The article didn’t say so but all this ribbon-cutting and national department’s radio advertisements a few weeks before the election are paid for by the taxpayers. And not by the ANC. The joys of incumbency.
I complained to a particular talk radio station in the Cape about it – response was it wasn’t electioneering but a transport department advert.
I’m happy for the media’s income, but they shouldn’t succumb so, erm, naïvely, and smell the coffee of subterfuge government propaganda.
They could play a recording before and after a government advert airing, saying something like: „ as part of our election time coverage, there is / that was wonderful news from the Dep of Transport…“ – just to be honest to their own principles of fair and balanced reporting.
But, Dear Pet, the Radio Station, if Cape Talk, is largely Union owned
Didn’t know that…
And most of its show hosts are puffed up self-appointed experts in any topic. I haven’t listened to that radio station in years because they use their bullet-proof soapboxes to spout out their cock-eyed opinions and you’ll always get shot down without any chance of a response if yours isn’t in line with their thinking.
Classic ANC. Flowery statements, lots of talk, pathetic chest thumping,sneaky promises and they somehow convince themselves that they are “delivering to the people”. Hollow and insulting!
But the 30% ers will fall for it hook, line and sinker Jimbo.
If the people allow the ANC to retain a majority then they get what they deserve for being fools, AGAIN!
African politics, where everything hinges on the election year.
But people are not that stupid, you maybe shooting yourself in the foot with such a “strategy”.
Cringeworthy burst of windowdressing activity from a bunch of people who have been almost invisible except for blue light convoys for the last few years.
Note the emphasis on “the past 30 years”.
All ANC achievements were in the first 15 years. Since 2009:NOTHING.
many a reeking cadaver will if given the right electrical impulses manifest movements which will be interpterted by the mentally challenged as life – hence there is no loadshedding…. but death is in the air
Ja boet. Sit in the sun doing very little but loot the fiscus, make stupid unworkable rules and by-laws, frighten foreign investors shitless, and then when election polls show that you’ve done such a crap job over the past 15 years that your support has plunged to 40%, jump onto the national stage and use public money to show what a great party you are. Don’t make me laugh. The ANC is crooked from top to bottom.
I really appreciate articles like this but at the end of they day they’re preaching to the choir. Are similar articles published in newspapers traditionally aimed at the township or more rural readership? That is where the voting power lies and I gather that they may not be hearing this side of the story. An observation from my side – I received the Sowetan daily round up email and I don’t see much in the way of election news, comment and opinion. Perhaps these things don’t make it to their electronic media?
You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. Too little, too late. It’s almost amusing; it’s so amateurish.
This blurring of the lines between state and party would be worrying if the cretins actually had any successes to point to.
ANC Business as usual!
Oh dear, Stephen – you are one of my favourite writers on DM, so I am horrified to see that you don’t realise that the proof is never IN the pudding, but rather, the proof OF the pudding is IN the eating…
Apologies, my comment refers to Stephen, when the journalist at fault is, in fact, Marianne! Please, if you are going to use an idiom, at least utilise it correctly….
When someone celebrates 28 million people, or nearly half the country’s population, being dependent on social grants (i.e., taxpayers’ money) as a “success,” then it is obvious that they have a delusionally skewed conception of what constitutes success, and anything else they might have to say on the topic of success becomes instantly dismissible.
This is a political party seeking to put it’s best face forward in the run up to an election.
Why is this even a story? No party is going to bombard with you propaganda about their mistakes and shortcomings.
Because they are using public money to do it.
You cannot argue that the ANC has provided access to water and electricity for millions of citizens. What they don’t tell us is that fewer people actually HAVE water and electricity because they have broken the system due to corruption, negligence and most significantly cadre deployment.
Good morning, Marianne:
Please: the proof is in the eating of the pudding — not in the pudding. Poor writing standards sem to slip by sub-editors these days.
Why don’t DM podcast the leaked audio so we can hear for ourselves??
The propaganda is pitched perfectly at it’s intended audience and will probably work really well. Look at the response Lesufi got from his audience on pitching the bald faced lie about universal access to free private healthcare after the election. BS so thin as to be near transparent is more than good enough for much of our electorate.
Not much point in slathering on the icing when there is no cake.
With Mandela’s freedom he brought Freedom to the South African public , when he died he took it with him.The vultures wanted to burst with happiness,but then we have to put that on ice until the tears are gone one said, then happiness started ,the State coffers are waiting they said, you hear behind closed doors conversations ,which one are you TAKING ,one said SABC here I come,SAA I am almost there with you my love,I am on a free trip on our Gravy Jet ✈️,and so the corruption prevailed.No jobs,no development,no proper health care etc ,and shame our BORN FREE’S which the ANC highlight at times had to be creative to earn a living.Stealing, join gangs , highjack the cars they would have liked to have and kill the owners,eish oh LORDY LORD come down we are in a mess, results of the vote violence is waiting.GOOD LUCK SA
What surprises me is how Mandela could have been hoodwinked by so many of his fellow comrades. So many of them turned out to be self entitled, self enriching rogues. Including many of those closest to him.
There are always references to the ANC stalwarts as though they were the good guys and only the new are the beasts. But, how do we know if the stalwarts weren’t also scheming? It’s difficult to manage an organisation from a jail cell. And Mandela depended upon those stalwarts to keep things in check. But they couldn’t and didn’t. So, many joined the gravy train and let Mandela down with either their lack of morals and/or competency – he basically confirmed in his latter years that the ANC wasn’t what it should have been.
If nothing else, it shows that the ANC is capable of DOING something, albeit very little and only close to the elections.
The ANC really have to keep Apartheid alive to try justify their existance.
Vote DA people , it will be lekker if they do well, promise !
If the ANC had this level of energy for delivery all year round, we would be discussing whether they were going to reach 70% in the election, not whether they’ll retain a majority at all. As a party they have an advantage that must be unparalleled in democracies around the world , but they’ve squandered that advantage at every turn by refusing to adopt basic accountability and simply do their jobs. Ridiculus.
Can we PLEASE have a photo of the Minister of Transport filling a pothole? Then, at lease we have proof that 1 ComRAID did some work in the last 5 (or is it 30) years.
In the words of Tracy Chapman, “”It’s time for a revolution”. Don’t be surprised at the results after 29 May. The IEC knows which side it’s bread is buttered on.
30 years too late as usual and its all lies anyway. ANC have truly botched their campaign this time around. Not sure how much difference it will make. Hopefully more of the regular herd will deviate from their standard ANC vote.
Great article. @Marianne Merten, thank you.
Cynically, I wish elections were held every year. We as citizens may experience better governance not just from the ruling party but the competing parties as well who try to win favor. Seems every party suddenly has money and time to spend on us lowly citizens.
Gogoshout
I work with citizens across the board. In1994 I was very excited about upping education and skills and creating jobs. Now I see he plain truth. Our Born Frees are 30 years old and nowhere. The sort-after “employment” is hustling and it seems qualifies them to go eventually to work for the ANC – progressed from hustling to looting. What happened to the skills base? We need to encourage employers in order to have employees -they are leaving the country. The biggest employer, the government, is retrenching and closing down useless SOE’s and other services. The tax payers are dwindling. Russia is the next colonist waiting to pounce!! When my domestic, 56 years old, says life was better in apartheid I am gobsmacked, but yes, she got an excellent education, medical care and training and never felt inferior because of her race/colour. Many of her friends agree. Please don’t allow NHI to happen – then we are surely lost!! we need healthy people to run a healthy country.
Bob F 2nd May 2024 at 19-21
Does the ANC expect South Africa to forget what has become of the SAA, the post office, railways etc and about all the money stolen over the past 10 years. Surely not. As a voter I believe the ANC has left it far too long to salvage any reputation which they may have had.
ANC is infested with opportunist who want to see it dead, why all the leaked information is from the ANC, also Zuma leaked medical reports, we are tired we need leaked audios somewhere else.
What a pity they didn’t try doing actual stuff that mattered for the last 5 years … oh, wait, it’s been 30 years.
Yes, there have been successes but far, far too many failures.
After the PT stunt on the Post Office retrenchments they are retrenching them anyway, But the got their minute of TV PR. Access to education , electricity and water does not mean increase in education, water availability and quality and constant and affordable reliant electricity. Ramaphosa made the most ridiculous statements on the growth of everything under the ANC over the weekend stating how many people had these different things in 1994 compared to how many in 2024. He either thinks we are stupid and or he has no idea of statistical comparison (most probably both). In 1994 there were +-40 milj SA,cans . We are now 60 milj plus
They won’t have much to brag about. Should be a short election drive…
Great article.
Just a small pedantic point on the 2nd last paragraph – “the proof is in the pudding” should actually be “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”.