Politics
South African opposition to field black candidate
However, the immediate public reaction suggested some voters see the move as just a blatant attempt by the DA to win black support, while some accused Ramphele of cynical opportunism. “The DA doesn’t represent black aspirations, the hierarchy of the DA is white male,” said independent film maker Sindile Mnguni.
Papi Thomas, a 25-year-old financial advisor in Johannesburg, said the move appeared to be a bid by Agang to get into parliament through the back door, since it might not make it alone. She also added, “That changes my opinion on who I might have voted for. Who knows? The ANC might get my vote now.”
Romp to victory
The ANC is expected to romp to victory in this year’s polls, despite seeing its support waning over the years over charges it has failed to lift millions of blacks out of grinding poverty, and some officials having been implicated in corruption.
The party won nearly two thirds of the vote in the last elections in 2009 and its overall majority this year is not in question; but Ramphele has described the ANC as “authoritarian, intolerant of criticism and unaccountable,” and in 2012 accused Zuma of leading an assault on the post-apartheid constitution.
Source: Al Jazeera
