‘ANC support might dip below 60%’

Secretary general Gwede Mantashe. Photo: Shanti Aboobaker

Secretary general Gwede Mantashe. Photo: Shanti Aboobaker

Published Oct 9, 2015

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Johannesburg - Less than a year before the crucial local government elections next year, the ANC is confronting the reality of its electoral support possibly dipping below 60 percent.

These concerns are explicitly expressed in secretary general Gwede Mantashe’s report on the state of the organisation at the party’s National General Council in Midrand on Friday.

Mantashe warns that should the party dip below the 60 percent in the 2016 elections, “this would represent a psychological and political turning point that would be interpreted as an indication of the demise of the movement”.

In a scathing report, Mantashe warns that based on the results of the 2014 national and provincial elections, the party could have lost the four metros that it governs, namely Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Nelson Mandela Bay.

“We should, therefore, consider that if these were local government elections these metros would have been lost to our opposition.

“Such a realisation would make us appreciate what the implications of such an outcome could mean for changing our local communities, and advancing a radical socio-economic transformation,” said Mantashe in the report.

In his report, Mantashe warns the party about the penetration of the DA into its traditional bases of support.

“The growth of the DA is at the expense of smaller parties in the main. There are, however, indications of the DA penetrating our base.

“The growing number in our base that is migrating to the DA should be of great concern to us,” he said.

Independent Media

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