LETTER: Is the ANC mulling a suspension of next year’s election?
State of disaster and Russian links could point to an answer
16 February 2023 - 16:58
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A number of opinion polls have indicated that ANC support will drop below 50% in the 2024 election, with predictions varying between 37% and 45%. Analysts tout various coalition possibilities, but hardly anyone has raised the possibility that the election may not take place.
Political analyst RW Johnson recently wrote that “Russia is already quite expert at election interference. And FSB (ex-KGB) operatives have been working in SA for over 20 years now.”
Defence minister Thandi Modise visited Russia in August to address a “security” conference; the ANC Youth League accepted Moscow’s invitation to be an “international observer” in September to rubber stamp Russia’s referendum in occupied Ukraine; in early December the Russian cargo ship Lady R docked in Simon’s Town, a naval base with no customs facilities, loading and unloading suspicious cargo under cover of darkness, and the department of defence has yet to provide answers to questions about this strange event.
Then there were all of deputy president David Mabuza’s visits to Russia last year; Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov being hosted in Pretoria in January for talks with international relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor; and the joint naval exercises that are about to take place off the east coast with the Russian and Chinese navies. Two superpowers and a dysfunctional navy?
Join the dots. In his state of the nation address last week President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster, giving the ANC almost unfettered powers. Might that include suspending the election, or even the constitution? The ANC leadership has become far too accustomed to travelling “private” and a downgrade to flying “commercial” is unthinkable to many. Life is far too good for them and their cadres.
Allan Wolman Tel Aviv, Israel
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Is the ANC mulling a suspension of next year’s election?
State of disaster and Russian links could point to an answer
A number of opinion polls have indicated that ANC support will drop below 50% in the 2024 election, with predictions varying between 37% and 45%. Analysts tout various coalition possibilities, but hardly anyone has raised the possibility that the election may not take place.
Political analyst RW Johnson recently wrote that “Russia is already quite expert at election interference. And FSB (ex-KGB) operatives have been working in SA for over 20 years now.”
Defence minister Thandi Modise visited Russia in August to address a “security” conference; the ANC Youth League accepted Moscow’s invitation to be an “international observer” in September to rubber stamp Russia’s referendum in occupied Ukraine; in early December the Russian cargo ship Lady R docked in Simon’s Town, a naval base with no customs facilities, loading and unloading suspicious cargo under cover of darkness, and the department of defence has yet to provide answers to questions about this strange event.
Then there were all of deputy president David Mabuza’s visits to Russia last year; Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov being hosted in Pretoria in January for talks with international relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor; and the joint naval exercises that are about to take place off the east coast with the Russian and Chinese navies. Two superpowers and a dysfunctional navy?
Join the dots. In his state of the nation address last week President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster, giving the ANC almost unfettered powers. Might that include suspending the election, or even the constitution? The ANC leadership has become far too accustomed to travelling “private” and a downgrade to flying “commercial” is unthinkable to many. Life is far too good for them and their cadres.
Allan Wolman
Tel Aviv, Israel
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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