Torched by power cuts, the middle class will load shed the ANC in 2024 – survey

Thanks Ferial. Let’s all live in hope that ‘24 brings an end to this nightmare.

All the statistics and predictions are a total waste of time for everybody involved, including me, the reader. Seldon, if ever, do the authors of these articles revisit their predictions a year or so down the line to compare what was said and what actually transpired! The fact is, this country has been taken over by a largely dishonest, avaricious bunch of cronies who have plundered our resources and mismanaged government to the point where it is totally dysfunctional and is going downhill, fast! The power of life and death is in the hands people who have the mental capacity of fourteen-year-old school children. Every decision they make has personal implications. This is not a wild statement. We see, read and hear about it every single day of our lives! All the diverse tribes and cultures in this country all have their own sets of values. Unfortunately, government's values are self-enrichment first, enriching connected people and organisations second and then spreading crumbs and propaganda to uplift the people! This government and its massive tribe of political buddies and supporters have plundered this country, and it's continuing unabated. The people in authority just cannot see that there are rules for any game, and the rule book got thrown out long ago with Zuma and his bunch of reprobates! The end game is chaos and a country something like what Zimbabwe has descended into. Integrity and honesty levels are non-existent. It's really a numbers game!

Hermann Funk, I agree with you. I really hope that Mpho Phalatse will win. And the middle class have the information and insight, so they can play that role.

Sad state of affairs. If the system allowed for it : what would a voter be willing to sell their vote for? It would make a fascinating study. I think for a million runts I could buy 4000 votes? Ten billion runts buys our country’s government. Not a bad investment if you can extract R1b a month just from Eskom.

What is the purpose of appointing a Civil Engineer to manage an Electrical power supplier? It is much like an orthopedic surgeon to do a brain surgery.

Check with your friends who have so much to say about the situation. Check how many have registered, how many bother to vote, how many check vital date for voting before swanning off on a holiday trip! It has shocked me and brings out the militant in me!

Vote DA !!

I gave Cyril the benefit of the doubt last time. Not this time, pal!

It is naive to believe that dethroning an entrenched political party will change the prevailing culture of African leadership. The history of despotic, corrupt and inept leadership in Africa spans several centuries. That it exists in other countries around the globe is evident, but in Africa it has become regarded as a status symbol and the expected behavior of any person who is afforded a modicum of power. Indeed, the many who admire and revere such people, wait patiently in anticipation for their time to gorge. The last thing they want is for this culture of entitlement to be derailed by the altruistic intentions of another political party. The ludicrous litany of mismanagement and abuse within state-owned entities, provincial administrations, municipalities and the trainloads of associated organisations, through the condoned capture by comrades, cadres and cartels – further supported by those up the food chain – is symptomatic of the avaricious greed of individuals who are encouraged to plunder whilst the rest of the nation suffers silently in the shadows … or total darkness! The surveys highlight the dissatisfaction of a small segment of the community, but this will not change the long-embedded culture of self-enrichment that shall endure for centuries to come. The gluttony must continue whilst the bottomless trough offers its irresistible bounty. Eat faster comrades - time is short … for tomorrow it's someone else's turn! Viva Africa!

The shifting political ground perhaps revolves around the ANC as a party in power and it excludes the forces behind the shifting ground and only cites electricity only not water and sanitation and the collapse of PRASA as the affordable public transport for the poor. The other issues include the floods and the hangover of the Covid lockdown that threw a lot of people out of jobs. The article leaves an important part of any analysis that is why would the ruling party in these elections face a challenge with the shifting political ground and forces behind it. It fails to point out there are new political parties that would be contesting national elections for the first time that includes ActionSA, the Patriotic Alliance, Bosa and the Rivonia Circle that would be attractive to the middle class. The other issue is the resurgence of the IFP in KZN and is going to be a big factor in KZN. The situation in the ANC is also getting people who left their parties to return to them. However, the three parties that will bring the ANC below 50 percent and even 40 percent are the Rivonia Circle movement that will attract a lot of the middle class and possibly the poor in Songezo Zibi Region of OR Tambo that would extend to Buffalo City. The second would be ActionSA that would continue to grow in Gauteng and would be decisive in Northwest. The third party that would hurt both the DA and the ANC is the Patriotic Alliance with its permanent minorities approach of organising the Coloured vote.