Some of these parties have irreconcilable ideologies but find common cause in opposing the present government, this was the case in Malaysia (another country where the race factor has always played a part in politics) and surely it can work in South Africa?

Let me start with the DA. The DA is, and has always been pivoted around a primary focus of “stopping the ANC”. They have always been the first to jump at publicly ridiculing the ANC. I understand that the DA is a serious opposition to the ANC, but how does name calling aide in rebuilding a broken country? Instead of focussing all their efforts on strategies of rebuilding, reforming and reshaping, they have been like the class bully, sitting to one side and waiting for the ANC to do something stupid (as it always ends up doing) and they sit at highlighting the acts of idiocracy that the ANC has now become famous for. My question is: When the ANC no longer holds a majority, and the DA one day leads the country, how will they lead, when they no longer have someone to lay blame on? When they are the focus of everyone’s attention, will they just be the ones that another “class bully” throws ridicule at?

Helen Zille, as a political figure, has been in the focus of my attention for quite a while now. My commrades down in the Western Cape brought to my attention her total lack of compassion for the poor. In flourishing “leafy suburbs” inhabited by the middle to upper class, the quality of her reign proves to be like crystal. However, when you go into the poorer areas, you see a different picture all together. Garbage piled up in the streets, broken water pipes, and whole areas with out electricity. The police presence in many of these areas in scarce or nonexistent. And the local DA representative in my area stated that those areas are unable to pay for service delivery. Surely in a post apartheid country, money needs to be spent, or rather invested in building up the poorer communities? But it seems that in many parts of this country, the poor are ignored and the fat cats just get fatter? Sounds like that capitalist dream.

I left the ANC long before Polokwane, and watched as my once loved party fell to pieces. Many of the members that left the ANC to start COPE were the insurgent trouble makers that were bringing the party down. So called “bum-chums” to ousted Thabo Mbeki. The militant Jacob Zuma is feared to be a War Mongerer, and I personally feel that he will be our own George W Bush, but with localised focus, rather than at a region that will financial impact his buddies. He has, in my opinion, ridden on the back of donkeys (eg… Shabir) to reach his political ambitions, but as our pathetically departed president once said: “Any person who desires the post of president, shouldn’t be allowed the honour.” It leads me to question the intentions of a person who will not rest until he gains ultimate power.

So now, with that, it leads me to COPE. In the early years of the struggle from the hostile claws of the Old Nationalist Party, Inkosi Albert Luthuli made a public address to Black, Indian, Coloured and White labour workers in Umkumbane (Cato Manor) just before the widest spread labour union strike in the history of South Africa. At this address, he referred to the congregation of workers on the now Cato Manor Sports Field, as “The Congress of The People”.

That term has stood as a symbol of what the ANC was trying to achieve ever since. However the dead leaves that ran like cowering dogs with their tales between their legs, when they realised their hopes at gaining ultimate control were gone, these dead leaves found it in their “clear consciences” to steal a vital foundation block of their new enemies, and use it as the foundation of their own evil desires, forgetting the pillar of heritage that this block supports.

The DA however, being the name callers they are, have chosen to welcome the new party, considering the old belief that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, despite the fact that the new party is 100% made up of your enemy.

When my enemy falls apart and turns on itself, does any part of it cease to be my enemy?

So this begins to show a small inclining of hypocrisy previously only found in the previous Nationalists who in one breadth spoke foul of the ANC, and then in the next, were sharing an award with the two leaders, and then in the next setting up a political alliance, and finally, shouting out praises to a dead woman, who for years was considered a public enemy. Need I say more?

So tell me, when the elections are complete, will the ANC not try and buy back COPE, thus gaining the seats needed to keep the majority rule? Or will the DA continue to speak out against how awful this ANC is, until you simply change the name and put it in a shiny new box? Orange Juice is Orange Juice, change the box, it’s still made from oranges.

And the comment that the SACP and COSATU are the primary influences of Zuma and Malema is totally unfounded, as the SACP and COSATU have distanced themselves from both Zuma and Malema.

Comparing Zuma to Malema is like comparing a grapefruit to a rotting fish. The grapefruit is an acquired taste, that has the potential for benefit, but the rotting fish, though may look appetising when packaged by a good chef, will always smell and taste like a rotting fish.

And in closing: my vote goes for the only party that have stood by their guns, and when I say guns, I mean strategies of reforming, rebuilding and reshaping. My vote goes to SACP, and post the elections I will keep a close eye on all these children throwing mud at each other, and I am sure that the SACP will have flung none, and be clean, and at that point, I will commit to the party.

Mark my words, the triapartheid alliance is dying fast! We’re all just to focused on the misdirection to see the real magic.

Remember that the ANC did not manage to pull their bits together to register their representatives in time. Had they done so, the vote may have looked quite different! Also, considering that these by-elections were – in my understanding – largely due to the COPE breakaway it must be understood that these regions are those that represent the areas which are largely dissatisfied with the ANC. They do not necessarily represent the vote of the country as a whole.

Do not underestimate the brand power that the ANC carries. The ANC brand tugs at the heart-strings of the majority of South Africans, who still see it as the movement which brought them freedom… and it therefore appears to be traitorous to vote against them. Until this conscience is overcome in the hearts of the people, they will blindly vote for the ANC regardless of progress.

Do ANC announcements like “We’ll fire non-performing Ministers” and “We’ll fight nepotism and cronyism in ANC appointments” sound like the ANC of the last 10 years? Nope.