LETTER: ActionSA must shun the ruling party’s energetic little calf

I would like to add my bit to Institute of Race Relations (IRR) CEO Frans Cronje’s letter expanding on the thesis of a weary buffalo, namely the ANC, being taken down not by a lion but by a pack of wild dogs (“The dog pack can deliver sweeping reforms in 2024”, November 8).

This wildly diverse pack includes the DA, IFP, FF+, ACDP and ActionSA, which share “a respect for the rule of law, a market economy, economic pragmatism and property rights”. The ANC/EFF has gnawed at these common values, through expropriation without compensation and other Marxist policies. This erodes the governing alliance’s support at the grass roots, as the 2021 results show.

Cronje is right to observe that as the wild pack encircles the beleaguered ideologues it could bring down the ANC and its allies by 2024 — a possibility he foresaw a decade ago. But if one member of the pack turns cannibal, the ANC/EFF will trample over fundamental rights and graze on decent aspirations for many a barren winter to come.

This week, I was part of an eNCA debate hosted by the indefatigable JJ Thabane, which included leaders from the ANC, DA and ActionSA. The EFF was conspicuous by its absence. While everyone else agreed they would not work with the ANC, Mashaba could not say the same about the governing party’s energetic little calf, the EFF.

ActionSA is far from the only party with a choice to make: take down this country’s biggest threat, or succumb to the temptation of beggaring thy neighbour. Unless ActionSA acknowledges that the EFF has led the ANC down a most self-destructive path, it may be led that way too.

Gabriel Crouse
Institute of Race Relations

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