SIKONATHI MANTSHANTSHA: There’s power, but no jobs
It’s clear why the ANC has been the dominant political party for 25 years. And why it will scrape through and win another mandate to govern for five more years
I’ve spent the past two weeks in my ancestral village on the Wild Coast, and it’s clear why the ANC has been the dominant political party for 25 years. And why it will scrape through and win another mandate to govern for five more years. The party has largely kept its rural voters happy — mainly through cash transfers to poor people — even though the countryside is devoid of any significant infrastructure, industry, development or jobs to bring about the promised "better life for all". While city slickers are grappling with power cuts, life is humming along on the rolling hills of the Transkei. It is exempt from the rolling blackouts affecting the country; not once has there been load-shedding. Then again, we only got connected to the grid eight months ago. Down here, not many people have heard of state capture and the efforts of deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo. Corruption is what the "clever blacks" talk about in the cities. And the few guys who have been forced to take refuge i...
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