Issues faced by ANC before the 2024 national elections.

By Entle Mcasi

What an exciting "show" the 2024 South African national elections. With everything going on in the country, all eyes are on the ANC party and how they will overcome this conundrum.

One of the many things that stand in the way of ANC being re-elected is the moon-shot pact created by leaders of seven parties the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the Freedom Front Plus (FFF+), ActionSA, the National Freedom Party (NFP), the United Independent Movement (UIM) and the Spectrum National Party (SNP).

According to an article for IOL, John Steenhuisen, re-elected leader of the Democratic Alliance’s Federal Congress, said that 2024 was going to be South Africa’s moon-shot election, “where we achieve a giant leap forward by removing the ANC from power and replacing it with a new pact government composed of like-minded opposition parties”.

In all of this, what are President Ramaphosa’s thoughts, he described the multiparty "moonshot pact" as a “slideshow” adding that his party, the ANC, would get an outright majority in the 2024 elections.

He dismissed the new-found pact, saying parties were entitled to hold conferences, adding that those political organisations would not "amass the support that the ANC has". "Parties that want to, as they say, unseat the ANC – it's a sideshow to us."

“There's no organisation that has as much reach to the people of South Africa as the ANC has. That is why we are confident in saying we are working for electoral victory. So, this issue of a defeatist approach that we are going to be in coalitions is far from our thinking.” Said Ramaphosa.

Another thing would be how President Ramaphosa congratulated and will be attending Zimbabwe'e President-elect Mnangagwa’s inauguration. This is a call for disaster Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said, "The DA condemns President Cyril Ramaphosa’s attendance of Emmerson Mnangagwa’s inauguration in the strongest possible terms. We cannot be a country that sacrifices human suffering and oppression at the altar of political expediency."

However, the president defends his congratulatory message to the Zimbabwean president saying “his message to Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa for his re-election was a response to the declaration by the country’s electoral commission.”

This will be one of many anticipated elections in South Africa since with the way things are it could mean an end to ANC’s reign and with a new party in charge, new expectations will come in. But the question on everyone’s mind is, will the new party be what the country needs? Will this party be better than the last? Does this party have the country’s needs and people's needs at heart?