Who must I vote for in 2021?

It’s 2021 and on 1 November we will have an election for local government representatives.

Who must I vote for?

Voting in South Africa
Img: ENCA

This is my thinking.

Let me start by saying that my views are formed against the background of my view that the democratic electoral system is outdated.

There are two reasons why it will not change soon or at all:
1) The vested rights of leaders all over the world won’t allow them to accede to any system that might jeopardize the privileges they enjoy.
2) Voters are short-term thinkers and a workable system that benefits most people on the planet requires a long-term thinking mindset.

I only considered the five most prominent political parties for consideration. They are:

  • African National Congress – ANC
  • Democratic Alliance – DA
  • Economic Freedom Fighters – EFF
  • Inkatha Freedom Party – IFP
  • Vryheidsfront Plus – VF Plus

Other parties were not considered because they represent causes with limited potential, are locally focused, or are in my view promoters of non-political causes. I do not consider parties based on religion or race as political parties because they represent a cause for only a section of the people of South Africa. I included the ANC because it is the governing party and the EFF and FF Plus because they are in the top 5 based on parliamentary representation.


The way I see it

The ANC

  • The ANC represents the majority of people.
  • The majority of people are unemployed and not satisfied with that.
  • The majority of people are not educated to the standard required to generate a successful economy in the 21st century.
  • Unemployed voters will vote for the party that will create employment. This is inherently flawed thinking because a government does not create employment. A government – with the exception of certain Northern European social democratic governments (a topic for a different blog post) – can only create an environment in which companies and entrepreneurs are able to create jobs. People with limited education remains unemployable in any economy that depends on skills other than manual labour.
  • It is in the interest of the ANC (not the country) to provide inadequate education. The reason is that people with limited education will tend to believe promises and give the ANC “another chance”. People with limited education tend to think short term and are more inclined to transfer their decision-making to people they consider able to act for them. People who have limited education tend not to question. If someone is prepared to keep on voting for you in future based on what you did for them in the distant past in an unrelated field, why do you need to deliver on promises?
  • The ANC leaders and officials (including government officials who should actually still be called civil servants) show three features:
    • they are themselves inadequately trained for their jobs and therefor feels threatened by anyone with superior knowledge of their work. Why would they support a system which will deliver people who are better educated than them?
    • they act based on power. Why would they consider it necessary to serve the people?
    • they think short term. If you only plan for the time you will be in office why would you care about the long term?
  • The ANC are forever married to a system of socialism which is nothing else than failed communism.
The mistake people make when it comes to the ANC
  • It is impossible for the ANC to manage the country successfully because they do not have the human material and capacity to generate effective leaders and managers.
  • The ANC manage by finding scapegoats for their inability as a government.
  • The ANC is a racist organisation, although the majority of its followers are not.
  • Certain voters judge the ANC on their own view of the world. Those are not the views in an ANC world. ANC leaders do not have a culture of service. People who grew up in a Calvinistic culture will not understand why ANC leaders have little regard for serving the people, for honesty, and for the responsibility to do your work to the best of your ability.
  • The ANC view of the world is the same as all autocratic movements namely that the possibility of ruling by force to stay in power is not something to be avoided.
  • The ANC is not a democratic organisation.
  • The ANC is a tribal organisation that needs to always have an enemy to keep its factions from splintering.
Why I couldn’t vote for the ANC
  • The ANC is corrupt to the core and cannot escape that.
  • The ANC is a racist organisation.
  • I cannot trust what they promise because they promise whatever the pressure dictates.
  • They are a failed government.
  • They cannot manage money.
  • They cannot enforce rules and laws.
  • Because of bad governance and non-existent planning, they will repeatedly put citizens in a position where laws need to be broken.
  • The ANC will not be able to govern effectively and successfully in my lifetime.
  • In short, the ANC don’t want me to vote for them.

The DA

  • The DA is a party that is irrevocably anchored in Western liberalism as a philosophy.
  • They are largely successful wherever they govern.
  • The DA has an interest in the best education possible because their philosophy requires educated people. Uneducated people do not understand or accept the Western liberal way of thinking.
  • The DA draws better-qualified people as leaders and followers which creates a pool of potential good political and administrative leaders.
  • The DA tries to bridge the racial barriers of South Africa which are impossible when your system is exclusively based on Western democratic liberal principles.
  • They share one failure with the ANC and that is their inability to effectively communicate with people of other races.
  • The DA is unable to exploit the failures of the ANC because they cannot communicate effectively with rural and jobless people and labourers, especially across racial lines.
  • The DA in its present form will not govern SA in my lifetime.

The above is also why I couldn’t vote for the DA.

Why I could vote for the DA

  • The DA is the most successful governors of cities, towns and provinces.
  • Most of the problems where the DA rules, are created by disruptive actions by the ANC or by non-delivery by government.
  • The DA delivers effective services where I live.
  • The DA is the lesser of the two evils.

The EFF

  • The EFF was born out of frustration with the ANC and is firmly founded in racism and corruption.
  • Everything said about the ANC above, can also be applied to the EFF.
  • They are not effective in delivering services where they represent people.
  • The party is largely built around one person who turns his coat to the wind and cannot be trusted to keep his own promises.
  • The EFF will probably become sidelined or disappear once it’s leader is not there anymore.
Why I couldn’t vote for the EFF
  • They use racism as a way of gaining followers by labelling other races as exploiters and a threat to a specific group.
  • Their leaders are blatantly dishonest.
  • They exploit people without taking responsibility for their actions.
  • The EFF does not want me to vote for them
  • The EFF represents only certain groups defined along racial lines.
  • The leaders either do not comprehend how an economy works, or it does not serve them to understand.

The IFP

  • The IFP is a party that is based in one main group and one main area.
  • There is a big difference in their support in different areas of the country. That makes them mainly a provincial party.
  • A party whose support is limited by its own constituency, cannot become a country’s government.
  • It makes no sense for me to vote for them.

The FF

  • The FF supports the idea of self-determination of groups.
  • They are mainly a conservative group anchored in one race group.
  • Due to their chosen base, they are by definition unable to take over the government of the country. They promote themselves as the party that stands up for a specific group.
  • As a voter, I don’t need a party that makes noise on my behalf but are inherently unable to make a real difference for me or for all people of the country.
  • It makes no sense for me to vote for them.

General notes

I started by saying that my views are formed against the background of my view that the democratic electoral system is outdated.

Why do I say that?

Democracy started in Greece in 508 BC. Liberal or Western democracy started in the 18th century.

Democracy (from dēmos (“people”) and kratos (“rule”)) is a system where power is vested in the people, and they exercise that right directly or through elected representatives.

I don’t want to write a thesis, so I will just summarize my thinking.

  • I want to have a say over matters that affect me. I believe all people want that for themselves.
  • Democracy developed in a way that people elect representatives to make decisions about matters that affect them.
  • Representation developed because people don’t have the time (and knowledge) to continuously make decisions on important day-to-day matters.
  • The system developed in such a way (I believe mainly because of the system of political parties) that representatives are not anymore the servants of the electorate. They now dictate to the people. Up to 1994, South Africa had “civil servants”. After that, we have “government officials”. Tip: Think about the difference in meaning and approach.
  • This led to a global phenomenon that leaders can’t be trusted to work for the common good, as opposed to their own good.
  • Technology allows us to make decisions in real time, so a meeting (parliament) of representatives are not necessary anymore.
  • The people (individuals) do not have the knowledge needed to make informed decisions about all topics.
  • People are short term thinkers while sound decisions need a long term view.
  • My freedom ends where your freedom begins. People cannot live with the consequences, therefore we will experience continuous polarization in society.
  • We could possibly benefit from learning how decisions are made in nature. Bees and Ants have no identifiable leader who makes decisions. Decisions are made communally (often by behaviour). Humans and insects decide in similar ways.
  • If people are allowed to live by democracy, the problem arises from everyone’s understanding of democracy and the individuals’ preparedness to live with a decision that does not suit them. Even if it’s in the interest of the larger community.
  • The world changes much too fast for voters to choose and then be stuck with a leadership that do not serve the common good for 2, 4 or 5 years.
  • Algorithms may help us solve the problem of a non-parliamentary democracy. Read: The natural genius of ants is helping us build better algorithms.
  • Enforcing decisions accepted by the larger group has always been done by force. Could there be another way? Is the exclusion of non-participants from communal advantages a possibility? If a smaller group of bees or ants do not accept a chosen new site, what happens? They do not receive the advantages of being in the group, and either have to find a new queen (reason to exist) or they perish.
  • How could we use technology and the algorithm to organize human society?
  • How do we create a reliable system of political expression by all people? Could it be that we must get rid of “politics” and create a system of “communitics”?
  • Communities via community organisations are in a strong position to establish themselves as providers of services, and I see a movement in that direction. This could be successful because service provision is then divested from divisive party politics.
  • Democratic party politics are focused on attaining and retaining power. “Communitics” needs to be focused on purpose and process, and should be measured by design. The community service provider should be evaluated on results only and needs to be disqualified by the system if results do not meet purpose.
  • A lot of thinking will have to go into devising a new system, although I suspect it will happen organically or naturally.

Finally

The leader of a successful political party for South Africa needs to be acceptable to all races in the country. Due to the different cultures, that is impossible in the traditional democratic political setup. It is also impossible in a traditional tribal autocratic setup.

Any government must be based on the principle that it must serve all groups adequately.

Any party who promotes their own or any other group’s removal from the country, or exclusion from the advantages of belonging to the country, cannot survive and cannot deliver a country that I consider successful.

Who should I vote for?

I will have to vote for the least of the evils.

Make your own decision

One question

Who is responsible for the failure of municipalities?

How was your service delivery in poor areas?

DA govt in WC pays its suppliers

Show us the ratio of wealth confiscated to wealth distributed by EFF

As a tribal party, how will they get a majority in parliament?

How do you decentralise local government without parliamentary support?

In the end, I suppose all elections are a competition between people who vote emotionally (illusion) and people who vote based on reality (real life).

It’s much more satisfying to vote emotionally, although reality eventually catches up with you.

How your vote works

Your vote could have a decisive effect in a local election because of the low number of voters in a ward.

  • Vote for the ANC:- keep the ANC in power or make it stronger where it is not in power. Result: Service delivery stays the same.
  • Vote for the DA:- keep the DA in power where they already are. Make them stronger but still of no value where they are the opposition.
  • Vote for the EFF:- put them in power and accept corruption because most of their leadership is still under investigation for corruption. As opposition: make them stronger and probably increase their ability to disrupt, which is one of the main strategies they used so far. There is no evidence that they have the ability to rule effectively.
  • Vote for the IFP:- A party that identifies mainly with a specific culture group or tribe. If you live in an area where they already rule, decide if you are satisfied with the results. In areas where they are in opposition, make sure they are the strongest opposition, otherwise you weaken the opposition by splitting the vote. Countrywide, they cannot rule because they do not have candidates in enough electoral wards.
  • Vote for the FF Plus:- A party that mainly identifies with a specific language group. They do not rule any cities or towns (that I am aware of). If you are in a ward where they rule, decide whether that served you well in the past 5 years. Voting for them to strenghten the party, weakens the opposition by splitting the opposition vote. It is still of no value where another party is in control.

Note:

  • Expect that the high number of independent and small-party candidates will split the vote and benefits the ANC.
  • The ANC voters may stay away because of dissatisfaction with service delivery.
  • Voters of smaller parties will vote for a cause, although it may make no difference to service delivery in their communities.
  • Voters who are able to change their loyalty and manage their emotions will be to the benefit of the DA, not other parties. If that does not happen, the DA may well do worse than in earlier elections.

Reading

How ants choose the best home
How honey bees choose a nesting site
The remarkable self-organization of ants