South Africa’s Ruling ANC on Verge of Another Victory

South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission is expected to announce official results this week’s presidential and provincial election Friday.

With about 90 percent of the votes counted as of late Thursday, it appears the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is poised to get another mandate to continue its leadership of the country.

This despite allegations of corruption leveled against President Jacob Zuma and complaints that the party of liberation from white minority rule has done very little to help the country’s black majority.

The democratic alliance, the country’s main opposition was a distant second with 23 percent of the vote.

Keith Khoza, communications manager of the ANC, says the vote shows South Africans trust the ANC not just as a liberation party but as an organization that has positively impacted the lives of the country’s poor.

“Remember the ANC is a former liberation movement that is running a third world developing economy which has problems that are typical of all other developing economies. But what is important is that in the 20 years of its governance, the ANC has been able to impact positively on the lives of the poorest of the poor. And that is why they trust the ANC with their vote,” he said.

Khoza said the ANC is returning into office by winning impressively in most the country’s provinces except for the Western Cape Province, stronghold of the opposition Democratic Alliance.

He denied the ANC has done very little to improve the lives of ordinary South Africans in the 20 years that it has been the governing party.

Khoza said the opposition and the media are spreading negative views of the country. Despite inheriting what he called a ‘bad economy’ from the apartheid regime, he said South Africa under ANC leadership is still the best economy in Africa.

“There has been the view that has been articulated by the opposition and the media to some extent, which is not real. If anybody has been to South Africa during the World Cup, they would have told you that South Africa is a well-developed economy. The quality of life of our people has improved,” Khoza said.

He said allegations of corruption in the ANC-led government are untrue. Instead Khoza said the ANC has been fighting corruption left by the apartheid government.

“The ANC has been fighting corruption because what we inherited in 1984 was a largely corrupt government that was run by the apartheid government. The opposition has ignored because they want to politics. And for them to gain power, they have to project the ANC in negative terms,” Khoza said.

He said the ANC has set up institutions like the Public Protector Office to fight corruption.