http://www.citypress.co.za/SouthAfrica/News/Tatane-effect-voters-dump-ANC-20110423
Hotspot voters dump ANC
2011-04-24 10:00
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by Sizwe sama Yende, Lucas Ledwaba, Dumisane Lubisi and Cedric Mboyisa
Delivery hotspots that have blazed in protest could become no-vote zones for the governing ANC.
City Press this week went to five towns worst affected by violent protests across three provinces, and found that comrades are boycotting, turning to the opposition or standing as independents.
This is a significant shift, as protests have never before translated into a negative effect at the polls for the ANC.
A recent report by the Human Sciences Research Council indicated that residents will not cast their votes primarily because of “political disinterest and disillusionment”.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has recorded a remarkable increase in the number of independent candidates standing in the local elections – 748 this year as opposed to 663 previously.
In Mpumalanga, which has been the epicentre of protests since 2009, there is visible and voluble anger at the ANC.
In Balfour, which President Jacob Zuma visited twice to calm the mood, the incumbent mayor, Malebane Tsotetsi, has made the list of councillors contesting the May 18 polls for the ANC.
As a result, the community and ANC members have endorsed independent candidates from five out of the six wards of Dipaleseng municipality to fight the elections.
This, according to community leader and ANC Youth League member Zakhele Maya, is because the list has been rigged and it “failed to consider people’s feelings and wishes”.
During their protests, residents demanded that Tsotetsi be axed because he was useless. Residents had lodged complaints with Luthuli House, Maya said, but there had been “no conclusive response”.
In Ermelo the community is pushing ahead with a call for its residents to boycott elections after four independent councillors were disqualified by the IEC.
The community says voting is not an option since the ANC’s Gert Sibande region had already decided who should become councillors.