tame TIMES
winner of the 2012 & 2013 ekurhuleni awards: best print media
Thokoza, Palm Ridge, Eden Park
Becoming the voice of Ekurhuleni
Volume 03, 15 May 2014, Week 20
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Changing political landscapes Lebo Mosolodi lebo.kathorus@tametimes.co.za The fourth general election went peaceful in most parts of the country which proves that our young democracy continues to mature like vintage wine. It is gratifying that political parties across the country are willing to accept election results, which is something that was foreign during the down of democracy. However, the fourth general elections saw some historical liberation movements such as PAC and Azapo loosing votes. According to the Pan Africanists Congress of Azania (PAC) Spokesperson, Bennett Joko, the people should benchmark the PAC’s performance based on the resources they have amassed. “We already consider launching a complaint with the Independent Electoral Commissioner (IEC) because the result is not a true reflexion of PAC’s performance. We have sampled about five voting stations in various provinces where we discovered that most of the votes dedicated
to us were being allocated to other small political parties,” said Joko. He said the distribution of election funds is not equal but allocated according to the number of seats that each political party accumulated in parliament. Joko cited that their objective was to get about 10 seats in these recent general elections but only retained their single seat. The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) leader Reverend, Kennet Meshoe stated that they dedicated only R500 000 towards the elections campaign but managed to get three seats. “We have learned in these elections that a political party without funds goes no-where. However, political parties such as Agang have spent double the amount spend by our party but amassed the same number of seats. It is important that we start engaging funders in preparation to contest the 2016 Local Government Elections.” Despite African National Congress (ANC) returning its ruling power and the Democratic Alliance (DA) getting their respectable second spot, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
surprised many by obtaining third position in their first attempt. They have changed the political landscapes by unseating Congress of the People (COPE) in the third position and acquired more than 25 seats in parliament. EFF’s emerging raises questions about
the declining number of the electorate for traditional parties such as, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), United Democratic Movement (UDM), and Freedom Front Plus (FFP).
People made their voices heard in these recent general elections. *Photo taken by Happy Khumalo.