JOHN ENDRES: EFF’s mass protest turns out to be a damp squib

The EFF’s grand “national shutdown” has come and gone. Squeezed in between the weekend and a public holiday, many working people took some time off and stayed away from work not because they endorse the EFF’s revolutionary agenda, but because they wanted to spend some time unwinding with family and friends. 

Apart from some minor shuffles and skirmishes, the day passed peacefully, not least because of the united opposition to the EFF shown by sectors ranging from private businesses, government and opposition political parties to civil society organisations as well as the governing ANC and taxi associations. 

There are two lessons to be drawn from this. The first is that the EFF’s brand of revolutionary rhetoric finds limited appeal among SA’s people. The party has not managed to find support much beyond 10% in any of the elections it has contested. A respectable showing, to be sure, but far from the broad popular support it claims to command. At least 90% of voters will have no truck with the EFF’s programme. 

This is mirrored in what opinion polls reveal about public attitudes. In the latest Institute of Race Relations (IRR) survey, conducted in September and October 2022, we asked respondents what the top two priorities for the government should be. Mirroring findings from previous years, and those of other organisations, we found that South Africans were most concerned about jobs (45.7%) and service delivery (with load-shedding at the top of the service delivery list with 28.3%). The margin of error in that survey was 5%. 

Right at the bottom of the list came the kinds of issues the EFF campaigns most strongly on: land reform (2.6%), racism (2.3%) and inequality, including gender and racial inequality (1.9%). That these topics came so far down the list does not mean they were irrelevant, but that their importance paled in comparison to the far more pressing issues immediately affecting people’s lives. 

This goes some way towards explaining the EFF’s limited appeal. It is not considered credible on the priority issues motivating South Africans, ranging from job creation to service delivery to the ability to counter corruption and lawlessness. In fact, the way in which the EFF promoted its protest seemed to encourage lawlessness rather than oppose it. No wonder South Africans were not enthused. 

The second lesson is that opposition parties have a great opportunity to tap into a voter pool that is underserved. The ANC’s declining levels of support can be directly attributed to its failure to deliver on the priority areas of jobs, service delivery, and safety and security mentioned above. To some extent, the DA has been showing how to capitalise on the governing party’s failures, by demonstrating competence in running a growing number of municipalities across the country very well, ranging from Cape Town to Midvaal in Gauteng and uMngeni in KwaZulu-Natal.  

There is no reason why other opposition parties should not do the same, either jointly (where they form coalition governments) or severally (where they obtain outright majorities on city councils).  

But this emphasises the urgency of finding a modus vivendi in coalition politics that achieves fast results and avoids spectacular unravelings, as seen in Johannesburg and Tshwane. Winning the small prize of putting one over your coalition partners and taking their votes means losing the ultimate grand prize of replacing the ANC in government and establishing a lasting reputation for competent, responsive government that will pay dividends for years to come.  

Reform opposition party leaders would do well to understand the difference and prioritise working together. 

• Endres is IRR CEO.