Johannesburg, South Africa — Thursday morning, November 4th, on a South African television screen, the point of one of the world’s youngest but troubled turbulent axes could not yet be meant, for better or for worse. There was a day. Democracy. When the outcome of the local government elections on Monday was involved, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) named the dominant African National Congress (ANC) —ANC’s iconic former leader. Won the most votes in the city.
The loss of ANC at Nelson Mandelabath was small (less than 1%). But for many analysts, it represents an earthquake change in South Africa’s political situation, with Africa’s oldest liberation movement turning into a political party and 60 million people claiming to represent the country. It is a clear symbol of the cracks that currently exist between them.
Civil society groups say citizens are punishing it for decades of inadequate service provision, state-led corruption, job creation and failure to stop rampant crime.
One statistic shows an ANC slide. A staggering 66 of the 278 city and town councils are currently “hanging.” In other words, no party has won enough votes to govern a municipality with a complete majority. Almost all 66 were previously comfortably won by ANC in 2016. As a result of the election, there were only 27 “hanging” municipalities.
The ruling party will be forced into an unpleasant coalition with smaller parties if it takes power in councils across the country, including the major subways in Johannesburg, Zwane, Durban and Nelson Mandelabay.
However, some of these parties, including DA, have stated that they are not interested in partnering with ANC.
Overall, ANC won 46% of the referendum. This fell below 50% for the first time after decades of white minority rule and becoming the country’s first democratic government in 1994.
As expected, ANC was censored by DA throughout the Western Cape province, including Cape Town.
“This result represents a crustal movement in South Africa’s political situation. Independent political analyst Beki Mungomezul said it would be difficult for ANC to recover because it no longer trusts it.” ..
Professor Stephen Friedman, director of the Center for Democracy Research, told The Epoch Times: The problem with the country is that there is no clear alternative to ANC. What we have now is so many opposition parties with so many different policies that are splitting the vote. “
Regarding the Epoch Times, ANC election director Paul Machatile said: Conditions for past service provision. “
Electricity
One of the basic services that ANC has not been able to provide to its citizens since 2008 is reliable electricity. Corruption and mismanagement of state-owned utility Escom means that South Africa is regularly in the dark, costing billions of dollars to its already-hit economy.
In the pre-election campaign, DA leader John Steen Heisen said that wherever his party candidates were chosen to rule, they were ridiculous overkill to “bankrupt and broken” Escomb. He promised to end his dependence and start buying “clean energy” from independent power producers.
So far, the ANC government has resisted large-scale electricity purchases from IPPs, assisted in grid failures, ended the country’s dependence on coal, and fired sick power plants.
“Of course, when the lights are on, South Africans pay some of the highest electricity bills in the world,” DA Shadow Energy Minister Kevin Mileham told The Epoch Times. “The government also has a respectful coal contract and a union to keep coal mining open. Obviously, switching the country to green energy is a lot of money out of ANC’s pockets. Will rob you. “
But for President Cyril Ramaphosa to fulfill his promise at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow this week, that’s exactly what his administration must do for at least the next two years. -Half a year. Repeated local election results in the 2024 national general election will expel ANC, who was notorious for former leader Jacob Zuma to “dominate until Jesus returns.”
Lamaposa announced that it has secured the first $ 8.5 billion from developed countries, including the United States and the European Union, to “shift” South Africa to a “low-carbon, climate-resistant economy.”
The country is the 12th largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world and promises zero carbon emissions by 2050.
According to a statement from the Ramaposa office, Escom’s coal-fired power plant will be “discontinued” and replaced by a “green energy plant” over the next 15 years.
You won’t lose your job. Instead, the move will create more, the statement said.
Ramaposa’s commitment conflicts with his own energy minister, Gwede Mantashe. Gwede Mantache is a critic of the Green Power Movement.
Mantache recently announced that the fastest and best way to “decarbonize” is to “core.”
In South Africa, ANC Energy Minister’s support for nuclear power is nothing new. In fact, successive apartheid governments stuck to it and built nuclear weapons (disassembled in the early 1990s) and the only nuclear power plant on the continent in Keberg near Cape Town.
“Despite the fact that new nuclear power plans are financially impossible in South Africa’s current economic situation, Mantache’s obsession with nuclear power is the most cost-effective way to reach its climate policy goals. If not, it has already been distrusted by energy experts, “said Mileham. ..
Nevertheless, ANC’s commitment to nuclear power seems unwavering. In late 2019, it announced plans to build a new nuclear power capacity of 1 GW by 2030. It also announced that it will extend the operating life of Koeberg by 20 years.
Mileham said the municipality is at the forefront of electricity supply and needs to provide the necessary resources “to enter into direct power purchase agreements with independent producers of clean electricity.”
DA sought funding to be provided to South Africa to help generate electricity away from coal burning and distribute it “fairly” among municipalities, regardless of which party South Africa is governed by. ..
“We need to keep an eye on this money,” Mileham said. “ANC’s track record of managing funds in a proper way is terrible.”
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