After teaching class on Friday, the street on which Ntyantyambo stands was a blurr of yellow ANC shirts, flags, and signs streaming towards the local, rusted stadium. Bursts of cheers erupted from buses trucking people into Zwide. Bus after bus. As they passed by the school, appendages and banners waved zealously from the windows - where did these people come from? With a mixture of enlivened curiosity and confusion, Scott, Michael, Phil, and I asked our students what was going on. Thousands of people don't congregate without good reason, unless its a rugby match. Amidst unbridled and fervent chatter, a few kids answered, "Zuma is here! Zuma is here!" Dismissed, they broke into a run to join the flow of yellow. I could hardly believe my ears, even after confirming with the principal and other teachers. And I had to see it.
Zuma? In Port Elizabeth? In the townships?!
The municipal election season broke upon PE two months ago. Overnight, a spate of campaign billboards and posters, which occupy virtually every pole or lamppost in town, appeared. ANC, DA, VF (an Afrikaner party), COPE,... (No joke. There are so many that I doubt that the 2 we stole for Annie's Cove are sorely missed). A pronounced lack of discussion or interest followed, excluding certain student organizations, like SASCO. Weird. Voting opens this Wednesday, and there are about 60 seats up for grabs in this region. According to an ANC campaigner at the rally, there is a lot at stake. To everybody else I've talked to, the elections are already decided - for the Eastern Cape, that is. The man who opened a checking account for me at FNB assured me that the ANC has unrivaled support here - the real battle is over the Western Cape Most students I speak with aren't even voting; they are smitten with apathy. Skeptical that the DA, the ANC's largest contender, can even compete - many did not even take the time to register.
Fair elections? As we walked down the street towards the stadium, were felt up and down by security at the gates, and filed in - our jaws dropped more and more. It was like walking into the biggest, most unhinged afternoon party the area had ever seen. People were stoked to have officials visit them - Zuma was, at that moment, door-knocking on homes rumored to have been won over by the DA. Why was there all of this excitement and support for a party that has systematically left out their communities and underfunded their schools? I guess if you show up every couple of years - bearing free groceries, free t-shirts, blankets, and a big "I'm your daddy" smile - you can win a lot of votes among the poor and disadvantaged.
Sorry for the brash cynicism. I don't mean to insinuate that the thousands living in the Zwide, Kwazakeli, and New Brighton townships don't understand the insidiousness inherent in the ANC's lust to maintain its consolidated control over government...but it seems as if the ANC depends upon the uneducated and jobless masses to keep support. Almost all of the educated black people I talk to are strictly for the DA, not the ANC. They understand the kind of stagnation and dissolve of democracy that occurs when a party rules for 17 years, effectively as a patronage network. Is it too conspiratorial to suggest that it may be in the conscious interest of the ANC to maintain a poor black majority? And provide only the bare minimum to better their socioeconomic position? Do they realize that the educated portions of society are shifting their support toward the DA, or not voting at all? What a terrible thought.
To be fair, the DA doesn't really campaign in the townships - some of the stigma and fear may be apocryphal, but the ANC is cunning in its projection of the DA as a "white party" to township citizens, ensuring that these areas will be somewhat hostile to other parties. The more people I talk to, the more of the townships I see, the further my disappointment and anger increases. Their government drops by during election season and then disappears. Other parties are hesitant to engage.
Of course, I wouldn't open my mouth at the ANC rally. Before following the campaign volunteers to their home to receive free XL t-shirts, stickers, and a flag, we marveled and mingled with supporters. Vendors sold cheap fruit, candies, and hot pies. Marching mixed with dancing; groups broke off into separate songs, indiscernable to our ears. Groups of schoolchildren wove their way through the crowds; men were peddling cigarettes and an odd array of trinkets. A man demanded 2 Rand from Phil when he quietly admitted his un-support for the ANC. The sun glistened on gold banners, on shaved heads, in supporters' gleaming eyes.
We were excited to get our hands on the t-shirts. But there is a certain sick nuance that accompanies my attainment of such (for me) valuable political artifacts. What is fascinating to me is for others the symbol of an increasingly arbitrary government that should no longer be ruling and that does not seem to care about the situation of the townships. I hope the t-shirts truly do become artifacts sooner than later - when citizens vote in a worthier party that is not leaning, as the ANC is, towards more radical "nationalist" rhetoric. Their Youth leader, Julius Malema, has recently been highlighted in a controversy surrounding what is clearly hate speech - he publicly sang a struggle song which includes the lyrics "one bullet, one Boer."
A final note: a friend's political science professor is not voting. She is fed up with the ANC, but she will not vote for the DA either. Why? Because the party is still "too white." When will the legacy of race dissolve?
Read more: http://mg.co.za/article/2011-05-16-zuma-malema-creating-racial-divisions-says-zille
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