From
the 1950s to the early 1990s, the National Party introduced the oppressive
system of apartheid. Fast-forwarding to
the 1994 election, blacks, many “colours,” and many non-white voted for the
ANC, or at least just not the NP. The
ANC attempted to give blacks what they deserved—housing, healthcare, dignity,
etc. However, after Mandela’s term, the
ANC leadership has been marked by corruption and inefficiency.
The
Democratic Alliance (DA) is the post-apartheid mainly white party, with a few
old members of the NP. Even though they
are white, they are starting to gain credibility (especially among coloureds)
in the Western Cape because they are efficient at providing resources to the
poor, given the circumstances. The
problem that the DA in the Western Cape faces is that there are many Xhosa
people from the Eastern Cape that have to move to the Western Cape (mainly the
townships of Cape Town) because the ANC government in the Eastern Cape is
corrupt and cannot provide adequate housing and healthcare. Besides its inefficiencies, the ANC has some
pretty controversial politicians, including its president, Jacob Zuma who was
accused of rape and corruption. So who,
white, black, or colored, would vote for someone like that; or a corrupt and
inefficient party?
I
asked a Xhosa person this question at a braai this weekend and what he said
finally shed some light: Even if we are to vote for a corrupt person (ANC) who only
cares about making his friends and family wealthy, at least we know who he is;
it’s not surprising. But if we vote for
a white person, who knows what can happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment