Are we, the people who shall govern, really stupid because we continue to vote for the ANC?

Ja Oscar, I have been chewing my gums for days and finally, I burst out laughing thinking of the consternation that would have been because if a white man like me had the nuts to make that claim Julius would be pumping bullets in the air and the SANDF would be on full alert. I wish it was funny but it is not. The ANC has done nothing other than one would expect from a social democracy, there are no achievements per se. Whatever the ANC has earned for the minor achievements they can claim has been destroyed by the wholesale rape of the citizens. In time the ANC will be accused of crimes against humanity. Just more than 50% of the people in the country live below the poverty line. Some 8 maybe 10 million people are jobless and they will never get jobs. I dont know how to fix this but I am certain youu and the ANC will never fix it and those that suffer willl eventually figure it out.

The late veteran political journalist Allister Sparks predicted many years back that the ANC would follow the route of most revolutionary parties and would disintegrate under the burden of years of factional fighting. The current stand-off between the CR and RET factions, that commenced well before the ANC's December 2017 elective conference, marks the biggest factional battle that the ANC has yet experienced. It will emerge from this battle either broken in half, and severely weakened, or it will manage the metamorphosis into a more modern party with greater public service capabilities. At this juncture, it is also worth bearing in mind that political parties do not control economies - rather it is economies that control political parties! The post-Covid economic meltdown may just be the economic catalyst needed to bring about big political change in SA, whether that's an entirely new dominant party (very unlikely), or a transformed ethical ANC (unlikely) or a major splinter break-away is made from within the ANC (more likely, especially once the NPA actions starts putting unbearable heat on the RET faction). Remember that the only reason the members of the RET faction have until now remained in the ANC is that the previous capture of the investigative and prosecuting offices in government shielded them from prosecution. Once that disappears there is less reason to remain in the Congress. That's exactly why Julius Malema left the ANC - in his case he was singled out as a lone member who was not going to receive ANC protection. He then left and formed the EFF, relatively successfully (although his radical appeal has until now been quite limited politically), but he did it nonetheless. Maybe the break-away is part of the RET faction and will look to join the EFF. Given the economic woes for many more millions of unemployed and disillusioned South Africans, the combined forces of the ANC RET faction and the EFF may gain greater political appeal and wider political powers.

I have read your article Oscar and believe you are missing the point; it is the ANC, with their corrupt mismanagement, who are robbing the people of the gains made with the struggle. The progress in uplifting the very people who have been liberated, could have been so, so much better and faster. The ANC is failing those very people. They were good at liberating but atrocious at governing and growing the economy for the sake of jobs. Artificially created and maintained racism in politics, is what keeps the governing party in power and what ensures parties like the EFF their support. It sure cannot be the results of the past almost 27 years; you must be blind to stubornely believe that. Who to vote for? Come on Oscar, just about every party will do better. Surely it's fair to question why people are still voting ANC after all they have done or not done!?!

No. Stupid is a disability. Ignorance, however, is a choice. Sadly, this malady is not restricted to South Africa. More than 70 million Americans, without the limitations that Africa often presents, voted for Donald Trump!

Poor old Oscar suffers from a logical inconsistency: Apartheid was bad, the ANC were against apartheid, therefore the ANC are good! The reality is that apartheid was bad, the ANC were amongst MANY organizations that were against apartheid, but, unfortunately, because of in-house corruption and incompetence, have turned out to be worse! The other TOTALLY ILLOGICAL argument is that, because some people suffered and even died for a cause many years ago, people currently must support the inheritors of what once was an organization of integrity,even though it is now just a gaggle of hyenas! I suspect Oscar is a stooge - no rational, intelligent person could honestly produce some of the drivel ascribed to him......

I recall when I was in the SANDF in 1974 I asked an Afrikaner why he voted Nat and his response was because his parents voted Nat. That principle also applies in the case of ANC voters. The only hope for some change is that there is a split in the ANC and that the 'good guys' get more of the votes. Herman Mashaba has good intentions but can he build a party strong enough to take on the ANC? Time will tell.

Dear Oscar, what a lot of verbiage to repeatedly ask the same question. Of course they are stupid. Not all of them, but most of them, for sure. The only thing they have really remembered from 'the struggle' is, "don't pay your utility bills, make the country ungovernable". They have got that 100% right. That's why Eskom, the Water Boards, the Municipalities (with notable exceptions in DA areas), the SOEs, are all bankrupt and non-functional.

I have a lot of respect for both Justice Malala and Oscar van Heerden. The exchange on these pages, and specifically the readers' comments, show how destructive (I almost said "stupid) it is to label people. A label says more about the one who uses it than the one that is labeled. Name calling people distract us from focusing on the real problems. People are not the problem. The problem (governance, blind loyalty, corruption, wounds of the past, etc) is the problem. It's time for us to get out of our political corners in a boxing ring and sit in a circle to do the hard thing: listen to understand.

Sorry Oscar, on this you are completely wrong. Stupidity can be defined as doing the same thing over and over again, in this case voting, and expecting a different result. Justice Malala is 100% right - our people are stupid. They are the ones mostly at the receiving end and who have been thoroughly betrayed and let grievously let down. Stop playing the race card and see reality for what it is.