Update II: The ANC “Slipping”? (& On What Raw Democracy Has Wrought)

The consistently moronic mainstream media’s angle on the forthcoming elections in the One-Party state that is South Africa: The ANC “is finally starting to slip.”

Let’s correct this bit of remedial revisionism. That my homeland is only now collapsing irretrievably into a black hole is a testament to the strength of the institutions and infrastructure—economic and civil society—planted there by the founders of South Africa, Boer and British.

Zimbabwe also took time to crumble; and that was not because Mugabe “started to slip,” although the same morons who castigate him now, cheered him on initially, and looked surprised when another African Big Man shifted into savage mode.

A strong economy and institutions take time to collapse. Zimbabwe was once an oasis in the desert that is Africa because of the phantom Ian Smith, prime minister of Rhodesia, RIP.

The ANC has not “slipped”; they’ve always been a scourge on the face of the earth.

As to what’s afoot, here’s an excerpt from my upcoming book, Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South Africa:

“Having spent most of his adult life abroad in exile, Mbeki’s mannerisms are those of an English gent, not a man of the people. But the baton has been passed from the pukka proper Mbeki to the populist polygamist Jacob Zuma, who dances half naked in tribal dress. In one of his Noble-Savage moments, Zuma promised, disarmingly, after forcing sex on an HIV-positive acquaintance, that he took a shower as a prophylactic against AIDS.”

Our friend, Dr. Dan Roodt, founder of the Pro-Afrikaans Action Group (PRAAG), has a different angle. It’s interesting and certainly congruent with his perspective on the destructive role the Anglo axis–American and British—played in his country.

I’m skeptical.

Update I (April 22): Election day has arrived. Or as Dan Roodt calls it, Racial Census Day. The CSM is chirpy:

High turnout could favor the ANC, since the vast majority of South Africa’s population are poor and black, and while voters criticize the ANC for failing to deliver on its election promises, they see the ANC as the strongest voice for their demands.

The higher turnout seems to be driven as much by public enthusiasm for (or revulsion toward) the ANC’s new populist leader, Jacob Zuma, as it is by a palpable desire for dramatic change, a sentiment expressed by all social and economic levels here.

Update II (April 23): What raw democracy has wrought. A one-party state it is with no protection for minorities; this is raw, ripe, rank democracy.

From the SABC:

As general election results keep trickling in, the ANC has passed the two-thirds mark, which, if sustained, will enable it to change the South Africa’s Constitution. However the ruling party has said it has no desire to do so.

With 74% of the voting districts declared, the ANC has captured 66.85% of the vote. The Democratic Alliance is a distant second [at] 16%.

Third-placed Congress of the People has so far managed to get only 7.7% of the vote.

Meanwhile, ANC President Jacob Zuma has thanked party supporters for helping them win the general election by a landslide. He was addressing supporters during a victory celebration outside Luthuli House in Johannesburg. Zuma says credit must go to volunteers and others who ensured the ANC was returned to power.