THE SUNDAY 6 independent 2014 Elections independentTHE SUNDAY 7 JULY 21 2013 JULY 21 2013 THE , THE BAD AND THE MILITANTS What exactly attracts the voters:Is it the dance,the beret,the botox,the party history,the posters or the content of manifestos?

HE SAYS what most politicians do not dare to say publicly. He appeals to a constituency HE IS popular and charming – a drawcard at ANC SHE HAS rebranded the Democratic Alliance AS AN ex-ANC Youth League member and LABELLED one of ’s most LEKOTA gained significant popularity after the ANC has been able to monopolise for rallies. In a country where the voters roll is to be a truly non-racial South African entity. University of Fort Hare graduate, Buthelezi leading the first major break-away party from years: the rural, township and squatter camp dynamic women, Ramphele – a dominated by the working class and the poor, She has managed to slightly change its styles himself as a peer of struggle icons like the ANC since Robert Sobukwe’s PAC. He poor. A gifted orator, Malema’s rhetoric businesswoman, academic and respected he is an asset to the organisation. His character, making it more visible in the former president and Oliver international figure – has the necessary continues to receive substantial media resonates with disenchanted and unemployed youth, who ascendancy to the top echelons of power in country’s townships. Her attempt at speaking coverage, largely owing to his parliamentary Tambo, all alumni of the Eastern Cape credentials as a veteran of the anti-apartheid South Africa and the ANC, despite his lack of formal education, constitute the biggest threat to the stability and cohesion isiXhosa and her toyi-toying have – while frowned upon by outbursts. As a former minister and ANC front-bencher, he institution. He is also fashioning himself as a statesman and Struggle, through the Black Consciousness Movement. She has endeared him to millions of party supporters. He has of the country while their challenges are not addressed. the likes of Malema – made some black DA members feel a voice of reason in the National Assembly. What sets is vocal and critical yet regal in her approach to politics. repeatedly demonstrated strength and the ability to withstand has outshone his opposition peers in the National Census 2011 revealed South Africa is a young nation, with welcome. She pushed for the elevation of several of the Buthelezi apart from many politicians is probably his Targeting South Africa’s middle class, Ramphele has taken a and survive political turbulence. His warmth and affable Assembly. He is fiery, fearless and tells it like it is . nearly 60 percent of its 52 million people aged under 39 – party’s black members into influential leadership positions. longevity. His erstwhile homeland counterparts have long personality disarm opponents. and most unemployed. His radical programme of hard line on government performance, corruption and the Her no-nonsense and vocal stance on corruption and passed their expiry date. He has been in Parliament since lack of good leadership and is well known to the mature nationalising key sectors of the economy is a game- service delivery resonate with the middle class. She is 1994. He has the ear of most South African presidents and changer in the political sphere and sets his party apart as a and educated voter. She is likely to appeal to the business accessible via social networking sites and is willing to he has survived numerous scandals, including Inkathagate non-mainstream “militant” outfit. sector as well. Independent-minded, robust and eloquent, engage with average South Africans. in the early 90s . she is still viewed more as an activist than a politician. BEING of royal blood, Buthelezi has led the MALEMA suffers from what is politically SOME IN the ANC believe he is a liability, citing IRONICALLY, it is her accessibility on social his controversial relationship with the Gupta LEKOTA is struggling to shake off perceptions IFP for almost four decades like a traditional called a “credibility crisis”. He is facing networking site Twitter and her sharp tongue that he is a power-hungry politician. He has leader, confusing dissent with personal charges of corruption, fraud, money- family and security upgrades at Nkandla as and ever-so-quick thumb that has caused UNLIKE Malema, Zille or Zuma, Ramphele issues that hurt the party’s image. Luthuli spent almost the entire period after serving betrayal. For years he had chosen to hear the laundering and racketeering in connection lacks the fire and passion to move the Zille the most harm. Her tweet about Eastern divorce papers on the ANC fighting with voices of sycophants who want him to stay with how he made his money in his home House’s internal research has shown that Zuma Cape students in Western Cape schools electorate. is not popular among the urban middle class, especially in fellow leader Mbhazima Shilowa for the on and marginalised those who felt the IFP could survive province of Limpopo. Currently out on bail, after he was being “education refugees” and her tiff with artist She is seen as intellectually aloof and status- Gauteng, the country’s economic centre targeted by the presidency of Cope. Like Malema, his temper undermines beyond his tenure. This has cost the party dearly. He has accused of making R40 million from corrupt activities, conscious, which could repel ordinary voters opposition. His ascendancy to power has come at the expense Simphiwe Dana triggered a backlash and accusations of his emotional intelligence. His resentment of Zuma and the presided over two post-1994 splits. Founders of the Malema , with a R16m tax bill that raises questions about racism. Some in her party privately accuse her of imposing who prefer down-to-earth leaders such as Zuma or of major factional cracks in the party, including the formation of ANC has resulted in him neglecting to build his ailing party. National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) and the his business dealings, has earned the “tenderpreneur” title. populists like Malema. two breakaway political parties within five years. The mysterious her preferred people on the party. Despite her efforts to (NFP) abandoned the IFP after Politically shallow and arrogant, his temper and foul mouth and inexplicable manner in which criminal charges against him rebrand the party, perceptions that it is still lily white spats with him. Buthelezi, 84 , formed the IFP in 1975, leads have always been his Archilles heel. Some in the ANC – who were dropped fuels perceptions that he cannot be trusted. remain. a shrinking party, reduced to a tribal outfit confined to KZN couldn’t stand Zuma – didn’t want to be associated with and the hostels of migrant workers. Malema before the ANC’s conference in Mangaung.

BRIEFING Political leadership The brand of party leaders can often dilute the values of the party The face of the organisation is key to its identity

INSTON Churchill once said Atta Mills, died unexpectedly) with an adjust- heroic personality. Houphouet-Boigny of the Zuma, and the newcomers – the wounded and STAFF REPORTERS black and middle-class leaders”, such as DA parlia- Africans as we do about those that affect whites DA politicians. “politics are as exciting as ed status quo message that played to his ambi- Ivory Coast was known as The Ram who charismatic of the Economic mentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko and party and, second, find a way to bridge the racial divide She is regarded as a voice of reason, and per- war, and quite as dangerous”. tion and youth: “Better Ghana – Working for defends his People; Kenyatta as the Flaming Freedom Fighters, and academic Mamphela RESIDENT Jacob Zuma is known to spokesman , who occupy plum on ‘identity issues’,” Coetzee wrote. haps presidential material. W In politics, says Thomas You”. Spear of Kenya; Nyerere as Mwalimu Ramphele of Agang. Joining the fray will be charm his supporters with his song positions in the party. His warning means the personality of a leader But elections are about numbers. Sweitzer, a US political media Campaigning in Africa can be seen in three (teacher); and Malawi’s Kamuzu Banda com- the stalwart authoritarian, the IFP’s Mango- and dance and speaks their language; The party grew further even after a new threat can be an asset or a liability. Contrary to Ramphele’s contention that she was adviser, “all the planning and strategy collide distinct phases – pre-independence, independ- bined a severe European look of trilby and suthu Buthelezi, the combative leader of Julius Malema’s rhetoric stirs the emerged in the form of Cope. For instance, the ANC under the intellectual in touch with ordinary working class folks – who at a single place and time. In war, the battle- ence and post-independence. In each of them three-piece suit with an extraordinary capac- Cope, , and the civil Kenneth P crowd while ’s toyi-toying However, the DA’s impressive 16.7% of the vote Thabo Mbeki was perceived – by its own members make up the majority on the voters roll – she is field is Waterloo or Gettysburg. In politics, the there were always two archetypes of political ity to play to the crowd. Meshoe of the African Christian Democratic and Xhosa clicks differentiate her in 2009 is a pittance compared to the ruling party’s – to be elitist and out of touch with the majority hardly seen or recognised in the informal settle- battlefield is the voter’s mind.” leadership and campaigning. The reach and appeal of many – such as Party. All will claim to have an agenda to sus- from her predecessors. 65.9%. of its traditional constituency, the working class. ments, villages and townships. That’s precisely where the battle is being In the pre-independence phase, the ruling Kaunda, Nkrumah, Sekou Toure and now tain and build on South Africa’s democratic Mamphela Ramphele’s eloquence and talking- The DA’s limitation, even under Zille, is the per- These were just perceptions because under Fikeni said Ramphele was most likely to con- waged this month as the Movement for Demo- minority parties were typically conservative Mandela – go beyond their own country, cham- gains and improve people’s lives. truth-to-power attitude appeal to those disgruntled ception that it remains white-led with the aim of Mbeki, the party increased its majority – 62.6 per- nect with middle class blacks and whites as well as cratic Change’s Morgan Tsvangirai attempts colonial patriarchs who preyed on minority pioning a pan-African agenda and unity. The battle will be party as well as person- with the dominance of the two behemoths on preserving minority privileges and rights. cent in 1994, to 66.4 percent in 1999 and 69.7 percent sections of the business sector due to her credibil- to wrest power from Zanu-PF’s Robert subjects’ fears of the black majority chasing As Chido Makunike noted in the Zimbab- ality driven – and the implicit or explicit South Africa’s political stage. Zille has tried to allay these fears by saying in 2004. The Mbeki administration held more izim- ity as a businesswoman. Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since inde- them into the sea. we Standard, in the absence of the Western engine will be marketing and branding. It’s , on the other hand, could those who believe life was good under apartheid bizos to hear ordinary people’s concerns than the Ramphele may be making sense to the middle pendence in 1980. On the other hand, the majority, black, world’s hero-worshipped film and music stars, not unforeseeable that more than R1 billion be described as the Dalai Lama of a party which is had no place in the party. Zuma administration. class, but it is Malema who is making the hollow At the same time, in Guinea Bissau parties oppressed challengers were led by charismat- in Africa religious leaders and politicians are will be spent on campaigning. In the lead-up, slowly becoming irrelevant, judging by its electoral However, her government in the Western Cape’s But Mbeki’s intellectual aloofness and reserved but right noises to the gullible youth. are battling it out to replace ousted interim ic and selfless heroes who were ready to sac- Thebe Ikalafeng the heroes who have amassed enormous any competitive action is electioneering. performance. While Mosiuoa Lekota has elevated controversial handling of the faeces war – where personality cast him as a president who changed His populist streak, oratory skills and spitting President Raimundo Pereira; and in South rifice their lives for the masses – the likes of wealth (and power) from the throne. It is therefore not surprising that the ANC Cope’s parliamentary performance, his presence is residents protested against the use of mobile flush the character of the ANC from its traditional rhetoric could work for the expelled ANC Youth Africa, Helen Zille of the DA has been waging Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda, Tanzania’s Julius liberators and the old patriarchal colonial In many countries, challenging the hero- reacted animatedly when the DA used “their” destroying the party. toilets – along with some of her own tweets have mass-based organisation. His attempt to include League leader. He knows how to excite hopeless a vociferous battle against President Jacob Nyerere, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, South apologists. leader often has detrimental repercussions. Mandela with “their” Helen Suzman in a top- Why do leaders matter in a country where been used against her. elite branches of academics was rejected at the people desperate for someone with passion to Zuma and the ANC in the lead-up to next Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Egypt’s Colonel While many arrive with ambitious and Adoring songs are written and presidential ical “Know Your DA” campaign that sought to voters elect parties? Zille’s own tone, her assertiveness and abrasive 2005 national general council and fuelled accusa- promise them their dreams, even if it means lying year’s elections. Gamal Abd al-Nasir and Guinea’s Sekou sometimes politically naive agendas, such as portraits are hung in the offices of those who position the DA as central to the struggle for They matter, a lot. They are the face of their attitude, as reputation manager John French point- tions that he was changing the identity of the to them. The parties and the personalities will be Toure. Post-independence, particularly in Obama’s change message, they often run into seek political favours. Others “join” so they South Africa’s independence. respective parties and their conduct, demeanour ed out in a 2011 article in The Star and last year in mass movement even though his intention was to Such reckless populism could, however, catch relying not just on delivering compelling mes- South Africa, the roles of the liberator and the the establishment – the party – scuppering are not seen as being disloyal – or worse, sym- To the ANC, Mandela is their brand – their and leadership style are easily associated with and this newspaper, could be construed as the voice and modernise the party. But his reliance on a tight up with him as desperate voters – who have used sages that resonate with the electorate, but on oppressor have been reversed to an extent. their transformational agendas and bold pathetic to the opposition – counter-revolu- liberation hero. To the DA, Mandela embodies give their parties a perceived character. sound of the “baas” and “madam” of the apartheid inner circle was his weakness. The alliance lead- violent protests to be heard – see through his the ability of the messengers – the flag-bear- The liberator is now the custodian patriarch ambitions. As a result, there’s a need for con- tionaries. the unifying values that the DA propagates as While the DA was perceived to be straying to the days that caused so much pain, trauma and hate. ers pointed to the culture of fear in the party. POSTER WARS: fallacies. ers – to be attractive to voters. and the minority is led by charismatic libera- stant balancing between the party and the per- The leader is the “supreme” commander of ideal for the sustainability of South Africa. right under , outperforming the FF+, “Zille comes from a Germanic background, Ironically, Julius Malema and his ilk are also Are voters really charmed by the faces on these election posters? PICTURE :AYANDA NDAMANE Political analyst Steven Friedman was uncon- All political campaigns are generally built tors such as the AWB’s late Eugene sonality. all institutions and opportunities. Zille will be hoping that her toyi-toying will Zille can be credited with making the blue DA which has speech patterns that are very pushed, saying this culture prevails under Zuma. vinced that the personalities of political leaders on three key platforms – leveraging the candi- Terre’blanche. African politics, traditionally dominated Others, like Mandela and many of his be more convincing than Zuma’s Awulethe T-shirts a political fashion statement in the town- hard and guttural on the ear. German is a far But to others, Zuma’s down-to-earth, good- have much influence on the support of parties, date’s personal strengths, ideological or parti- Zille, a renowned anti-apartheid activist in by the “people’s parties”, is increasingly peers, such as Mozambique’s Joachim umshini wami (bring me my machine gun) to ships. Under her leadership, liberation slogans – “harsher” language than the more romantic lyrical humoured personality reinforced views that the especially when it comes to a 100-year-old organi- san differences, and the situational context. her own right, is fashioning herself as the becoming dominated by “personality par- Chissano, Botswana’s Festus Mogae and Cape voters. remixed though – are openly sung at DA rallies, languages like French, Italian and English,” wrote ANC was restored to its mass-based character. when his face was on the party’s posters in 2009. Its leader – especially when he is weak – is often sation like the ANC. The right approach led an ambitious young new non-racial benevolent unifier, while the ties”, with idealised and idolised leaders who Verde’s Pedro Pires, recent winner of the Mo Both will be betting that the appeal of the with some black DA members feeling more at home French. So charming and popular has Zuma been that Some blamed the middle class’s Zumaphobia for contrasted with past leaders, something Zuma has According to Friedman, this was only likely to Illinois congressman, Barack Obama, to the ANC champions itself as the custodian of have deliberately crafted public images. Ibrahim award for promoting development, youthful and wounded pre-eminent personal- than before. Former DA strategist Ryan Coetzee also warned he was accused of cultivating a personality cult. these results. But the working class are the major- endured for most of his term. be the case in smaller parties where the very exis- White House ahead of the establishment’s freedom and repositions the DA as a colonial The party is used as a mobilising infra- peace and democracy, have grown to be wide- ity of post-independence South Africa, Male- The DA might not have radically changed – and the DA in his internal document that its tone and But Mbeki, too, was accused of the same politi- ity voters. And the party’s own researchers fear South Africans – who hardly read party mani- tence of the party was due to the initiative of that Hillary Clinton, with a “change” message; and descendant threatening to return South structure, while the hero – the candidate – is ly regarded as statesmen rather than politi- ma, to the 58 percent of South Africans under it is still on the centre right – but her personality attitude could be misinterpreted as condescending cal sin, his intellect was so infectious to admires Zuma’s second term as party leader could do more festoes – rightly or wrongly tend to judge the par- particular leader. He said in the case of Agang SA, put Margaret Thatcher in 10 Downing Street Africa to the dark age of apartheid. the champion playing to the gallery. cians. the age of 34, won’t produce an unpleasant and style have slightly shifted perceptions about attacks against black leaders. that some even emulated his mannerism. damage to its electoral fortunes next year. ty through its leader. for example, many people’s perceptions were based with a bold, anti-establishment, partisan plat- In the rest of the continent, with a growing As well articulated in the BBC’s The Politicians, says Clinton, think about the electoral surprise. the party. “If we are going to become a party that is attrac- However, Zuma’s cult persona worked. The ANC’s brand has managed to remain Ramphele’s activism, on the other hand, and a on how they viewed Mamphele as an individual. form: “Labour isn’t working”. youthful leadership such as Senegal’s Maki African Story, while the cult of personality next election, while statesmen think about the Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni says Zille is tive to South Africans of all races then we need to He has increased ANC membership from rough- resilient under different leaders. high profile as an academic and business leader But for the ANC, he said, Zuma’s personality In Ghana, a charismatic and youthful John Sal, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta and Ghana’s grew in response to a need to bring people next generation. ■ Ikalafeng is a global African political a hard-working leader. find a way to do two things: first, care as deeply ly 600 000 in 2007 to 1 million in 2013 even though This is partly due to its rich history and the sen- put her in good stead with the middle class, which could hardly influence the character of the party Mahatma won after only three months of Mahatma, the battle can be seen as a challenge together through oratory and image, the Next year’s elections will bring together branding adviser and author who successfully She had also “moved swiftly to affirm young, about the ‘delivery issues’ that affect black South the ANC’s votes decreased four percentage points timental attachment people have to the party. is weary of arrogant ANC and “condescending” or electoral support. But what about perceptions? campaigning (the incumbent and flag-bearer, between the new (often youthful) charismatic African politician has become a symbolic the formidable campaigning skills of Zille and led the 2008 and 2012 Ghana elections.