Angella Johnson
SIPHO MASEKO, senior lecturer in political science at the University of the Western Cape, was not quite as kind to the opposition parties as they were to themselves – he consistently gave them lower scores for their performance than the scores the parties thought they deserved.
But he and the Democratic Party were in agreement on one thing – his vote for best opposition went to the DP, a title its leader Tony Leon felt it deserved.
“I give them six out of 10 because for a small party they have been vocal enough to be heard and have had real impact in challenging the ANC-led government.” DPleader Tony Leon had given his party nine and a half.
He laughed at the National Party’s generous self-assesment of seven out of 10.
“They deserve no more than four, as they don’t yet understand what being an oppostion party is about,” he said. “For one thing it means having alternative policies, not just being critical of the ones being implemented by the government.”
He said the NP should seek all the time to tell the electorate that it is a shadow party waiting in the wings to assume power. “Instead they show every sign of being in disarray.”
Surprisingly, Maseko gave the Freedom Front (FF) five: they earned it, he said, for their consistency. But this was still three points lower than FF MP Corne Mulder’s rather hopeful self-assessment of eight.
The Pan Africanist Congress got four “because of changes implemented in December last year and February this year”. The PAC also pointed to these changes, admitting that before they took place, they had deserved a low score of three.
The African Christian Democratic Party recieved a poor two out of 10 – in stark contrast to its own complacent self- assessment of eight. Maseko said its performance was “pathetic” and he could never fathom out where the party stood.