ANC Eastern Cape : In full song 🎶 Wababiza Bonke uNoah🎶🎶

isibiza sonke umbutho we size umKhonto ne vile#2019ANCManifestoReview @ANCECape pic.twitter.com/4QXbZtHDr1

Road to 2024: Last week, the ruling party made gains in byelections held in the province, writes Zukile Majova, bolstering their position as the “only option” party.

Black middle-class voters often criticise and ridicule voters in rural provinces for voting for the ANC despite glaring examples of poor service delivery in their towns.

The truth is, in most cases, voters choose the ANC largely because there is no other option.

The strongest opposition party, the DA, does not always have a visible presence in black communities either in rural or urban communities that are dominated by poor blacks.

There are no DA branch offices in most townships, villages and many towns in rural KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

Had there been no Zulu nationalist party — the IFP — in KZN, the rural vote in this province, as in other provinces, would belong to the ANC.

Last week, the DA did not bother to participate in by-elections in Mbhashe Local Municipality which represents Dutywa, Xhora (formerly Elliotdale) and Gatyana (formerly Willowvale).

This area is the heartbeat of the ANC and anyone serious about taking power from the ANC would want to start by shifting loyalties here.

In the by-elections held on 13 September, the ANC vote increased from 65% to 70% in Ward 1 and 66% to 69% in Ward 2.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said the ANC has the widest and deepest reach in communities in South Africa.

The party has a candidate in every ward and every dorpie, with party agents in every voting station.

In a system where every vote counts, when the national tally is made, the party that fought the hardest to reach the most isolated outreaches is often guaranteed to emerge victorious.

Ramaphosa’s confidence is not ill informed.

“The ANC is going to achieve an outright majority, so relax. We are not working towards being in a coalition,” he said. “We are confident we are going to emerge victorious.”

In the past week, the ruling party has held mass rallies in every province in the country, presenting its revised election manifesto ahead of the 2024 election.

The strategy is designed to get communities to embrace the party’s manifesto as a product of their own making.

No other party comes close to making such an effort on such a massive scale.

Pictured above: ANC Eastern Cape supporters embrace the party’s top brass during a rally at the weekend

Image source: @MYANC