in South Africa, the ANC in the sights of the radical left

“People in power look after their interests, not those of the people”, grimaces Tebugo Maboka at the meeting of the South African radical left, Sunday, September 26. One month before the local elections, the African National Congress (ANC), the historic ruling party in South Africa, is accused here of all the evils, poverty and corruption in mind.

They are thousands, in red and black, to have rallied the dilapidated center of Johannesburg to listen to the leader of the Fighters for Economic Freedom (EFF), Julius Malema, officially launch the campaign for the municipal 1^er November. Grandstands, tight security and giant speakers whose bass uplifts the heart. Here and there, many groups sing and dance, hopping from left to right raising their fists, laughing.

Tebugo Maboka, 66, steps aside to express his deep disappointment with the ANC, the party of Nelson Mandela, which ended apartheid and where he campaigned for a long time, ” sure “. Black beret and white beard, strict glasses, this mining employee finds the ANC “Rhymes more today with destruction than with development” : “They loot, it’s simple. They ask us for our vote but do not keep their promises. “ A stone’s throw away, a young man, wearing a fluorescent organizer vest, intervenes: “We’re hungry for Malema! “

Agnes Jase, 28, is an EFF candidate in Carletonville, an hour’s drive away. She does not hide the clientelism of her approach: “My mother’s house was destroyed by fire last year. The ANC did nothing, the EFF helped it rebuild. “ But beyond these very concrete and personal realities, she judges that “The ANC has lost its way”. “They are now going to drown in the face of our breaking wave”, she launches in a triumphant burst of laughter.

Walkabout

The ruling party is launching its official campaign this Monday, even if President Cyril Ramaphosa (who is also the leader of the ANC), has been in the crowd for ten days, dressed in green and yellow. Sunday morning, in order not to leave all the media space to Julius Malema, the head of state crisscrossed the township of Tembisa, after Soweto last weekend.

Door to door, greetings … “Uncle Cyril”, known for his good nature, sits on a bench, hands out jokes and slaps on the shoulder. Regularly, he throws “Amandla! “ (“Power!”), Rallying cry of the resistance to apartheid. Just like his opponent, who opens his river speech by claiming the legacy of Winnie Mandela, popular but controversial heroine of the anti-apartheid struggle who would have celebrated his 85th birthday on Sunday, he assures him that he continues the fight ” revolutionary “ and not the ANC.

“Mama Winnie did not abandon the cause of freedom in the face of the white capitalists who have captured and continue to control all the leaders of the old liberation movement”, hammers on his side Julius Malema, to the cheers of the crowd. We are not “A paper tiger, but a roaring lion”, he assures, before ruthlessly listing the countless bankruptcies of the ANC, which he describes as “True findings”. “Our people are landless”, unemployed, lack of electricity, “Lives in slums without toilets”, “Our roads are not paved or full of potholes”…

The day before, it was online that the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), had launched into the campaign, calling on South Africans to defeat the ANC and come closer to it to avoid to leave the field open to the populist radicals of the EFF.