#2024 South African Elections

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Rachel Savage at The Guardian:

South Africans go to the polls on 29 May in elections in which the ruling African National Congress party could lose its majority for the first time since it swept to power in 1994 after the end of apartheid. Chronic unemployment, inequality, power cuts and corruption have contributed to a haemorrhaging of support for the ANC, which won the 2019 election with 57.5% of the vote.

Who are the ANC’s challengers?

The ruling party is battling against established opposition parties such as the economically liberal Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Marxist-inspired Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). It is also being challenged by upstarts such as the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by the former president Jacob Zuma, who is bitterly opposed to the current South African leader, Cyril Ramaphosa. Polls have consistently shown the ANC getting less than 50% of the vote. A telephone tracking survey by the Social Research Foundation had it on 44.1% of the vote in a 60% turnout model this week, compared with 39.1% a month earlier. Some analysts think the ANC could still scrape a majority, noting that phone polls often have significant flaws, including underestimating ANC support in rural areas where many poorer votes do not have phones.

[...]

How will the elections work?

Almost 28 million South Africans are registered to vote in national and provincial elections, less than half of the 62 million population. The 400-seat national parliament will vote for the president no later than two weeks after election day. There is no constitutional process for forming a coalition government. South Africa uses a system of proportional representation. Voters get three ballots – two for the National Assembly, each allocating 200 seats, and one for their provincial legislature. One of the national ballots will only have political parties on it. The second will be for one of nine multi-member provincial constituencies. Voters can either opt for a party, which will list its candidates’ names, or an independent.

Could the days of the incumbent African National Congress (ANC) having a majority in South Africa be over and be forced into a coalition to keep them in power? We'll find out in the elections today.

See Also:

MCI Maps Substack: Issue #182: South Africa Election Preview: The ANC Faces its Greatest Test

[comrade-onion]

Might wanna start a local ANTIFA chapter. What do yall think?

[hey-its-sybarite]

This year I had surprise major surgery, lost an organ, broke my own tooth on my birthday, went to get the tooth fixed but they just… removed it, my dog died suddenly, my uncle died suddenly, my parents’ home was hit by a TORNADO. We don’t even have tornado warnings there, because there’s never been a tornado before.

Also Deadpool 3 was disappointing.

[saxafimedianetwork]

Who Were The Winners And Losers Of African Democracy In 2024?

#AfricanDemocracy saw mixed results in 2024 with 18 #Elections held across #Africa. West & East made significant progress, with #Somaliland, #Ghana & #Senegal showcasing well-run polls, while others faced challenges. A step forward for #Democracy in Africa

Continue reading Who Were The Winners And Losers Of African Democracy In 2024?

[dreaminginwonderlands]

A youth perspective

Democratic South Africa is 30 years old now – a fully-fledged adult in my eyes. Our country is in its third decade and has indeed faced the trials and tribulations of young adulthood. She has taken her time to navigate the journey and she has emerged victoriously, perhaps slightly bruised but most definitely not broken. She has used the values upon which she was raised to give power to the…

[head-post]

Steenhuisen alliance vows to save South Africa

South Africa’s elections this week should provide a great opportunity for the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) and its leader John Steenhuisen, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, the African National Congress (ANC), Nelson Mandela’s party in power for the past 30 years, showed little success. South African unemployment is among the highest in the world, the economy has barely grown and infrastructure is crumbling.

The DA, the country’s second largest party, enjoys greater popularity in the Western Cape. According to pre-election polls, the party received about a fifth of the vote in the last general election in 2019. Despite campaign missteps and the DA’s attempts to broaden its support, Steenhuisen could still secure a parliamentary majority.

Some recent polls show that support for the ANC is as low as 40 per cent. Such a rate could make it difficult to form a coalition with smaller parties.

Despite Steenhuisen’s promise to dismiss the ANC, he still has not ruled out a post-election deal if it does not allow Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) into government. The EFF reportedly plans to nationalise industry and confiscate land owned by whites.

I’m not ruling out anything depending on what the election results are going forward.

Read more HERE

[bluebean09]

The most stupid thing my country could possibly do right now is try to boycott the elections. It is exactly what they are doing right now. Fuck this shit. This will not help with anything, only make things worse

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Rachel Savage at The Guardian:

Final results from Wednesday’s seismic South Africa elections have confirmed that the African National Congress (ANC) party has lost its majority for the first time in 30 years of full democracy, firing the starting gun on unprecedented coalition talks. The ANC, which led the fight to free South Africa from apartheid, won just 159 seats in the 400-member national assembly on a vote share of just over 40%. High unemployment, power cuts, violent crime and crumbling infrastructure have contributed to a haemorrhaging of support for the former liberation movement. The pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) won 87 seats, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) – a new party led by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s bitter rival, the former president Jacob Zuma – took 58, and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a Marxist-Leninist party led by the ousted ANC youth leader Julius Malema, took 39.

The ANC also lost its majority in three provinces: Northern Cape; Gauteng, which is home to the commercial centre Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria; and KwaZulu-Natal, where MK was the largest party. “What this election has made plain is that the people of South Africa expect their leaders to work together to meet their needs,” Ramaphosa told an audience of politicians, diplomats and civil society leaders after the official results announcement, as thunder rumbled outside. “They expect the parties for which they have voted to find common ground, to overcome their differences, to act and work together for the good of everyone.” Ramaphosa also joked, to laughter from the crowd, that he wished it was true when the electoral commission chair accidentally said that he was announcing the 2029 election results. The president faces questions about his future, though, as the ANC turns to the task of coalition building. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Zuma’s MK party said they had boycotted the election results event.

Zuma had warned before the results announcement that it should not go ahead, saying “people would be provoked”, raising the spectre of the deadly riots that broke out when he was sent to prison in 2021. The position of Ramaphosa was not on the table during the coalition talks that will now take place, the general secretary of the ANC said before the final results were announced. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told a press conference at the election results centre: “If you come to us with a demand that Ramaphosa must step down as the president, that is not going to happen … It’s a no-go area. You come to us with that demand, forget it.” MK leaders have said they will not work with the ANC while it is led by Ramaphosa, who Zuma is hell-bent on exacting revenge against. Zuma was president from 2009 to 2018 and was forced to resign by the ANC amid corruption allegations, which he denies.

[...] A tie-up with the DA could be favoured by the more business-friendly wing of the ANC. However, such a coalition would face criticisms from the many black South Africans who see the white-led DA as favouring the interests of white people, which the DA denies. Some analysts have said that bringing in a third, black-led party could help the ANC head off those criticisms. DA leaders have said a coalition is an option, as well as a “confidence and supply” arrangement with an ANC minority government and staying in opposition. Another option for the ANC, and one that is likely to be preferred by the left wing of the party, is to link up with the EFF. That option would need another partner to clear the 50% needed, however. Often mentioned is the Inkatha Freedom party (IFP), which took 17 seats, and, like the MK, gets most of its support from Zulu people.

For the first time since the end of Apartheid in South Africa, the African National Congress won’t have a majority. The ANC, however, will continue to have the most seats, and need to form a coalition, likely with either the Democratic Alliance (DA) or the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and/or uMkhonto weSizwe (MK).

[doculicious]

Nikki "Anti-Black People" Haley lost the 2024 New Hampshire presidential primary. Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands each have their Republican Caucus on February 8. February 24 will be the South Carolina Republican Primary. I don't expect Nikki Haley to win her home state of South Carolina.

Her comments in New Hampshire in 2023 about the Civil War and Slavery during the days of Kwanzaa (December 26 to January 1) were a dog whistle to get certain voters in the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary January 2024. As the governor of South Carolina where she was born and grew up in she saw firsthand that the American Civil War was about Slavery. For years she has gone by Civil War battlefieds, Confederate monuments, Dixie flags, slave plantations and slave cabins in South Carolina. She might have even stumbled upon a Klan rally once by accident. Her father taught at an HBCU (Historically Black College or University) in South Carolina. A result of the USA not wanting black students at white colleges in the 1800 and 1900s. White schools still don't want black students in this new century. I digress. Maybe she didn't like that growing up it was black students tuition and fees that were paying the bills at her house.

Hating black people does not stop you from being president of the USA. Take your pick of past racist presidents and those who owned slaves. The problem with her is that she is South Asian and wants to further their ability to come to America like her parents did. You can't do that if you are in basic denial of factual history of the USA that she in South Carolina can see every single day.

I am sure that while she campaigning in New Hampshire she did not stop and visit the African Burying Ground Memorial Park in Portsmouth New Hampshire. Slavery started in the North and ended in the South.

[mapsontheweb]

South African general election results in 2019 and 2024. Largest party by municipality.

by bezzleford

[ptseti]

This is what the brother was talking about..the LEFt doing the bidding of the GOP. This was posted on SM by African Stream. Mark you they are correct but this is not a Kamla/biden issue, it's a US issue.

This was the CAPTION to this photo:

Will Kamala Harris be the new Democratic nominee for the 2024 US presidential elections? Joe Biden has given his endorsement… but what is she really like as a candidate? For the past four years, she has served as vice president of the United States, the first Black (and Asian) woman to occupy this position. Yet, compared to another Black lady VP in the Americas, she seems not to have her people’s best interests at heart. Let us compare Kamala Harris’ record to one of her neighbours to the south, Francia Márquez, vice president of Colombia. Kamala Harris, throughout her career, has consistently sided with the racist, capitalist, imperialist system. Her career as a prosecutor was built off of the war on drugs and strict policies targeting the Black and Brown working class. She is a strong supporter of Israel and has spoken more than once at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the largest pro-Israel lobbying group in the US. The country she represents as vice president is sending billions of dollars to Israel, as Tel Aviv bombs Gaza to ruins and kills thousands. Francia Márquez, the first Afro-Colombian vice president, is part of a long tradition of grassroots Black liberation and environmental justice activism. Unlike Harris, she represents the interests of the African diaspora and oppressed peoples worldwide. The government she represents has restored relations with Venezuela, strengthened ties with the African continent and stood in solidarity with Palestinians facing an Israeli onslaught. Comparing Harris and Márquez in this way reveals why radical politics matter more than just shallow representation without commitment to the people. Do you think Kamala Harris would make a good pick for president of the United States?

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Jaryn Crouson

Professors connected to anti-Israel protests head programs that received millions of taxpayer dollars, according to a report released Wednesday by government transparency group Open The Books.

The Department of Education has spent $283 million on foreign studies grants since 2020, with over $22.1 million going towards programs studying the Middle East, Open The Books found. The study analyzed the top three grant recipients, Indiana University, Columbia University and Georgetown University, and found that each highlighted anti-Israel professors as distinguished staff in their programs.

“These universities all have multibillion dollar endowments,” Amber Todoroff, deputy policy editor at Open The Books, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “They get tax breaks, government-backed student loans, and enormous sums through federal grants and contracts. Through these Title VI grants, they’re getting funding specifically for departments that have hosted radical professors, instigating shameful protests nationwide. It’s high time Congress takes a closer look at how this money is being spent, and, with so many new ways to learn languages and international culture, if it’s even necessary at all.”

Universities received these funds in the form of two different grants: National Resource Centers grants, which go directly to departmental programs, and Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) grants, which can be used to give students fellowships to study foreign regions or languages, according to Open The Books.

Columbia received $2.8 million in FLAS grants from 2020 to 2024, according to the report. Its program is meant to “examine transnational connections, develop Islamic studies, and deepen specialist expertise on the region,” according to Columbia’s 2018 grant proposal.

The 2018 application mentioned Joseph Massad, a professor in the Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department, as a selling point for the university’s program, noting that his classes “focus on the modern history, gender, political economy, international relations, politics and culture of the region.” The university received $653,632 in an FLAS grant in the 2022-2023 school year that was used in part to fund a fellowship for a student to take Massad’s “Gender and Sexuality in the Arab World” class, according to Open The Books.

Massad was alleged by students to be biased “against both Israel and the West” in his classes, according to Open The Books, citing nonprofit group Middle East Forum. The professor published an article the day after Hamas’ attack in 2023 calling it a “stunning victory,” and he gave a talk at the university in 2002 titled “On Zionism and Jewish Supremacy.”

Columbia experienced intense anti-Israel campus protests during the spring semester that resulted in over 100 arrests and multiple safety concerns. (RELATED: Many Pro-Palestinian Protesters Remain In ‘Good Standing’ At Columbia)

🧵On October 8, Professor Joseph Massad described the Oct. 7 brutal terror attack as “awesome” and a “stunning victory.” He also happens to be the chair of an important academic approval Committee. Watch as @Columbia President claims: “he is no longer a chair of that… pic.twitter.com/rRU32HQnTv — House Committee on Education & the Workforce (@EdWorkforceCmte) April 17, 2024

Indiana University raked in $2.84 million in federal grants from 2020 to 2023 for its Middle East program, and touted professor Abdulkader Sinno its 2018 grant application for his specialization in “the evolution and outcomes of civil wars, ethnic strife and other territorial conflicts; Muslim representation in Western liberal democracies; Islamist parties’ participation in elections,” according the report. Sinno reportedly served as a faculty advisor for the university’s Palestinian Solidarity Committee, which was involved in hosting an “anti-Israel counter protest” where members confronted participants of a Hillel demonstration.

Sinno attempted to sidestep university policies to host the pro-Palestinian speaker Miko Peled for the organization, booking the speaker as an academic event rather than student event, according to the university’s students newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student. The decision led to a two-semester suspension from teaching and a year suspension from advising student groups, according to Open The Books.

Even after the suspension, Sinno gave a speech at an “alternative” graduation for anti-Israel activists during which he praised them for being part of a “proud tradition” and said that their protesting showed “empathy and caring,” according to WFYI.

More than 50 protesters were arrested on Indiana University’s campus in April after a clash with police that left multiple injured, according to Fox 59.

Georgetown received $2.64 million from the Department of Education from 2020 to 2023 in FLAS funding, and it named Associate Professor and Director of Georgetown’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies Dr. Fida Adely in its 2018 grant proposal, the report found. Adely is a member of the Faculty for Justice in Palestine’s National Advisory Board, according to Open The Books, which is a group that “encourages academic and cultural boycotts of Israel and Israeli academic institutions,” according to its website.

Hundreds rallied on Georgetown’s campus during the spring semester, hosting an encampment that lasted more than a week and scuffled with police, according to the university’s student newspaper, The Hoya. Adely participated in an October rally, calling on the university to divest from Israel-linked companies, according to a separate student paper, The Georgetown Voice.

“By funding schools that teach radical ideologies and practice a far-Left DEI philosophy, controversial professors and administrators are also gaining access to a vast ecosystem of tax dollars, and influence over impressionable young people,” the report concluded. “These funds can be used to advance their research, build their standing as credentialed academics, gain tenure, and impact international policy discussions. Meanwhile, our national interest in these grants comes into considerable question. Are we encouraging more professionals who will be credible in these fields and represent U.S. interests, or more folks who are determined to ‘dismantle’ the ‘settler colonialism’ they see all around them?”

Columbia, Georgetown, Indiana University, Massad, Sinno and Adely did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

[justinssportscorner]

Lisa Needham at Public Notice:

Donald Trump and JD Vance spent the 2024 election spewing the most rank transphobia, a tactic that should have made them pariahs but instead helped win them the presidency. Even though they haven’t taken office yet, their victory seems to have emboldened Republicans like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to go all out in their attacks on trans people. Trump’s transphobia is often focused on trans athletes, and Paxton is following his lead by suing the NCAA in Texas state court under the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act. His allegation is that the NCAA is somehow swindling Texas sports fans by allowing trans athletes to compete in women’s sporting events. Texas’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act prohibits false, misleading, or deceptive acts in commerce. According to Paxton, the NCAA is misleading sports fans by advertising women’s sporting events when there are actually “biological males” competing. Or, as the lawsuit explains, the NCAA is “lead[ing] consumers to believe that they are purchasing goods and services associated with biological sex-based sporting events.” While rightwing weirdos might be attending NCAA games because of their deep desire to associate only with “biological sex-based sporting events,” the rest of the world watches women’s sports because they enjoy watching them.

The complaint rolls out four more counts, each fixating on a different bit of language from the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. At root, they’re all the same accusation: the NCAA is deceiving consumers by referring to women’s sports because it allows trans athletes to compete in some events. Of course, for people not consumed with a fixation on genitals, the term “women’s sports” includes trans women, because they are women. It only makes sense if you first grant Texas’s transphobic premise that there is no such thing as a trans woman playing a sport — only a “biological male” who has invaded a women’s team. Ostensibly, this lawsuit is just about stopping trans athletes from competing in women’s sports in Texas (or outside Texas if a Texas team is involved). But what it really represents is a chance for the state to spread its transphobia across the country.

Everyone knows that the GOP has made transphobia one of the centerpieces of its messaging, with the explicit goal of running trans people out of public life altogether. They’ve particularly fixated on trans women athletes, declaring that it is their deep love for the sanctity of women’s sports that drives them. So, it’s not surprising that Republicans have been demanding that the NCAA entirely ban trans athletes from competing.

But here’s the thing. There are roughly 510,000 NCAA athletes. And, according to the president of the NCAA, there are fewer than 10 trans athletes total. Even if all of these efforts to “protect” women’s sports were in good faith, this would still be a solution in search of a problem. Needless to say, these efforts are not in good faith, which is why, for example, the state’s complaint won’t even use the term trans woman or trans athlete, instead calling them men or “biological males.” It’s why there are dozens of paragraphs about athletes who are not trans, are not NCAA athletes, and are not even American athletes, like Caster Semenya and Imane Khelif. Invoking Semenya, a South African runner, and Khelif, an Algerian boxer, is a favorite tactic of transphobic right-wingers, sending the not-so-subtle message that they will police the gender of anyone they deem insufficiently female.

[...] The state wants the court to permanently bar the NCAA from allowing trans women to compete in women’s sporting events. In the alternative, they’ll take forcing the NCAA to stop using the term “women” for sporting events where trans women can compete if the event is in Texas or involves Texas teams. As far as protecting the sacred womanhood of sports, or whatever it is Paxton is pretending he is doing here, this lawsuit is entirely unnecessary. Texas already bans trans athletes from participating in collegiate sports in the state. But that’s not enough for Texas. It wants to reach into other states — states that may have laws that protect trans people — and impose a trans athlete ban if there’s a Texas team playing.

Texas’s culture wars-obsessed weirdo AG Ken Paxton (R) files a frivolous lawsuit against the NCAA over phony claims that the organization is “deceiving” people by using the term “women’s sports” when a trans woman is competing. This lawsuit is about eliminating trans people from public life fully and not a darn thing about “protecting” the “sanctity” of women’s sports.

[bloghrexach]

🇺🇸 … Ladies and gents, this is where the USA finds itself on Decemcer 18, 2024!

A naturalized South African foreigner, not found in any election voting ballot, is calling the shots on decisions that will affect a nation of 346+million citizens!!

Please, explain this to me!! … 🇺🇸

@hrexach