The twilight in Richmond in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands cast an orange aura around President Jacob Zuma as he rounded off his address at an ANC election rally with his trademark Awuleth’ Umshini Wami (Bring me my machine gun).
It was a rousing rendition. Especially impressive was the virile hip-swivel that prefaced the half-growled line “Wen’uyang’ibambezela” (You’re pulling me back).
The young girls and gogos massed in front of the stage swooned and screamed. Their cheering was frenzied. But on stands on the outskirts of the field in Ndaleni township figures darkened into anonymous silhouettes by the setting sun appeared less receptive.
Their body language spoke of Âwariness. But there was a hope, too, that Zuma would address their Âgrievances, chief of which was that candidate lists for the local government elections on May 18, which for the first time had been opened up to communities to name their preferred ANC candidates, had been doctored in favour of the politically connected.
Many felt that the ANC was simply ducking the problem of self-aggrandising and inaccessible councillors who sabotage the provision of local government services.
An ANC office bearer, who did not want to be named because he is campaigning as an independent candidate in Richmond, was one of the more distant onlookers.
“We were there because we wanted to see if the president had been briefed about our issues [relating to the candidates list] and whether he addressed them directly. He didn’t, so we will contest this election and decide on a coalition afterwards. We are confident of winning.” Richmond has seven wards, four of which will be contested by disgruntled ANC members running as independents.
The office bearer said the party had tried to woo the independents and their supporters by assuring them that a post-election review of the nomination process would lead to by-elections in wards where there were discrepancies.
“We don’t believe this will happen — it’s just an attempt not to lose our vote on May 18,” the office bearer said. Richmond was the culmination of a long day on the campaign trail for Zuma, who has clearly been deployed by the party he leads to wards and areas in his home province where there has been discontent over the list process.
‘Disillusionment with ward candidate’
Earlier on Monday he had been north of Durban on a door-to-door tour in KwaMashu township before addressing a rally there, and later he was in Sweetwaters, north of Pietermaritzburg.
In KwaMashu’s A and B sections people still live in two-room apartheid-era matchbox houses. The hostels have been renovated but shack settlements have mushroomed everywhere. And, because of inadequate infrastructure raw sewage gathers on the streets and mounds of litter remain uncollected.
After dropping in on the Mthembu household in KwaMashu’s ward 46 — where living conditions were cramped and backyard shacks had grown as an extension of the original two-room house, apparently to accommodate 25 people from two families — a crowd gathered to celebrate the president’s arrival. But just as loudly they voiced their disillusionment with the ANC’s ward candidate and the process that allowed him to run for re-election.
After Zuma’s whistle-stop visit 54-year-old Thembalihle Kunene said: “I hope you got the real story here. We’re fed up with the councillor, Dumisani Ngema, but the ANC want him back. He’s never around and decisions are made without consulting us. Housing projects get started here but are never completed. The councillor says the money ran out, but he’s building himself a mansion.”
Kunene, who was wearing a yellow ANC T-shirt, said he had voted for the party in every election so far. He said the community’s choice, Nhlanhla Shezi, was “an ANC member through and through so he is not standing as an independent. But this means I’m not sure if I’ll vote.”
Zuma was deployed to calm people like Kunene and win them back into the ANC fold before the poll. After years of campaigning for his party, and more recently his own political survival, Zuma is extremely persuasive. He connects quickly with individuals and crowds, relating homilies in meandering isiZulu that Everyman can relate to. And, of course, he is a consummate stage performer.
In KwaMashu his comparison of the electorate to a beautiful Zulu maiden being courted by suitors may have drawn guffaws from journalists tickled by the associations with the president’s infamous libido, but it struck a chord. Zuma is also well placed as the custodian of the ANC’s history and, consequently, South Africa’s history of struggle.
In Richmond, 19-year-old Malusi Shelembe echoed other first-time voters at the rally: “I came here thinking I would vote for an independent because of the problems we had during the nomination Âprocess. But after hearing the president speak I will vote for the ANC,” he said.
Pressed on his change of heart, Shelembe said: “He reminded me of the people who died for our freedom, of the history of our struggle. I can only vote ANC now.”
There is an indisputable magic about Zuma on the campaign trail. He is worth his weight, and the combined weight of his four wives, fiancée and every woman his wandering eye has followed, in ballot papers crossed for the ANC.
Yet, in what appears a first at KwaZulu-Natal rallies fronted by Zuma, there was circumspection in the crowd, alongside the customary populist frenzy.
In KwaMashu and Richmond, people dressed in ANC T-shirts hung back on the terraces. They were there to see whether their leader would address their concerns or merely appeal to their historical allegiance. After 17 years of ANC rule — or rather, misrule — at municipal level, they wanted to hear whether anything would change.
They want transparent housing lists, accountable councillors and a decent existence with toilets, running water and electricity. As Zuma moved around the Rotary sports ground in KwaMashu, cries of “Umsebenzi! Sifuna umsebenzi!” (Jobs! We want jobs!) could be heard shouted respectfully, but plaintively, from the stands.
Zuma and the ANC remains popular but it is becoming apparent that South Africa no longer jives to just one song.
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