New political parties that emerge before elections such as MK party are keeping black voters poor. Image: @DZumaSambudla
‘Black emerging political parties keep people poor’
During the 2019 elections 46 black-led parties had to compete among themselves compared to the DA and the Freedom Front Plus for white votes.
New political parties that emerge before elections such as MK party are keeping black voters poor. Image: @DZumaSambudla
The mushrooming of political parties such as uMkhonto WeSizwe and the RISE Mzansi party just before elections, is not only wasting hundreds and thousands of votes but it keeps Black people at the bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder.
According to Professor Sipho Seepe, a respected public intellectual, scientist and newspaper columnist, the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) failure to dislodge apartheid’s spatial and socio-economic patterns has left the majority Black nation suffering from a sense of inadequacy.
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EDUCATED BLACKS HAVE BECOME THE NEW GATEKEEPERS
“Nelson Mandela was spot on when he said: “The lack of human dignity experienced by Africans is the direct result of the policy of white supremacy. White supremacy implies black inferiority,” he said.
“The rich and better-educated Africans who have benefited from South Africa’s negotiated settlement have, by and large, become the buffer zone between the working class and the unemployed, with white capital remaining in full control.”
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ELECTIONS HAVE BECOME A MEANINGLESS ROUTINE EXERCISE
Seepe said a record number of 48 parties had registered candidates for the 2019 national parliamentary election but only 14 out of 48 garnered sufficient votes to have representation in Parliament.
“In other words, hundreds of thousands of votes were wasted on the remaining 34 registered parties which failed to meet the minimum threshold. This effectively deprived voters of one of the most effective tools available to hold the government accountable. The ANC holds a lion’s share of the vote, followed closely by the DA and the EFF.”
“Second, with the DA and the Freedom Front Plus having consolidated white votes, this boiled down to 46 black-led parties having to compete among themselves for the African vote. It comes as no surprise that elections have become meaningless routine exercises that keep most of our people busy with low returns, if any,” he said.
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LACK OF UNITY AMONGST BLACKS = APARTHEID ARCHITECTURE
Steve Biko attributed the lack of unity amongst black people to white racism and white supremacy. He said white racism ensures that black parties are pitted against one another.
Interestingly enough, Seepe says, in what could be a nakedly vulgar ploy to divide Africans, many of the parties in 2019 were funded by the same sources.
“It comes as no surprise that 30 years into democracy, Africans have made little progress in reclaiming their ancestral land. Instead of building on their common experience, they have embarked on meaningless ideological contests,” he said.
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