By Khathu Mamaila
The failure by about half of the country's registered voters to go to the polls is a "gentle" protest against the African National Congress by its traditional supporters, according to political analysts.
By late on Wednesday, indications were that only about 50 percent of registered voters had cast their ballots.
Professors Sipho Seepe and Sue Booysen dismissed the argument that the low turnout was a sign that democracy was maturing.
| 'The government is still the only salvation for many people who need jobs' |
"Generally speaking, ordinary people are disillusioned with the ANC-led government. They are yet to see their votes changing their lives. During the election last year, the ANC asked for a stronger mandate to accelerate transformation. It has got the stronger majority, but there is no link between its dominance and speedy delivery of services," Seepe said.
In some instances the ANC had failed to act against corrupt and incompetent councillors and some people remained unconvinced that the party would honour its promise that corrupt leaders would be removed from office, according to Seepe.
He added that in some areas, ANC members at local level were unhappy with the nomination of candidates.
Popular candidates were removed in favour of those preferred by the national leadership.
On the view that as democracy matures, fewer people are interested in politics, Seepe said: "This should be challenged. The government is still the only salvation for many people who need jobs. In developed countries, people look at other things for personal development, but in our case, people still see the government as the source of everything, and therefore they should be interested in politics."
Booysen said it would be premature to conclude that many people did not vote because politics had reached a level of maturity. She argued that there were no structures in place to ensure the smooth running of local government.
Democracy was endangered, she added.
"The major reason for the low turnout is that ANC supporters were registering a gentle protest. Voters are not ready to switch to other parties like the DA. They're simply saying to the ANC: 'You are our organisation and, please, you should work for us'.
"Our voters are sophisticated and this is a wake-up call for the government," she said.
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