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2004's performances in context
Staff Reporter
Posted Fri, 16 Apr 2004

Since the death of apartheid 10 years ago, the winds of change have continuously blown through South Africa’s political landscape. We compare the leading parties' performances in South Africa's three national democratic elections since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The people's choice

One of the most significant alterations to SA politics came this week, when the ANC swept to its biggest electoral victory since coming to power.

The party had garnered a staggering 70 percent of the vote by Friday late afternoon giving it an estimated 257 out of 400 seats in the National Assembly; the party had already surpassed the two-thirds majority mark early on Thursday.

The party has grown gradually since it came to power in 1994 and in the previous elections in 1999 it missed a two-thirds majority mark by a fraction.

The ANC’s triumph is seen as a clear and solid mandate to the party by the people of South Africa to continue the work that has transformed South Africa over the past 10 years.

Filling out into the official opposition

The Democratic Alliance has also increased its support base, with party leader Tony Leon calling it an historic achievement.

Support for the party upped dramatically from the 1999 election, which will see it grow in stature as the official opposition.

In 1999 the DA won 1 527 337 votes. The party now projects that it will add 500 000 votes to its national tally compared to five years ago, and break through the two million mark — an increase of roughly 33 percent.

One political analyst has said that the strong performance by both the ANC and DA may sharpen the cold war between the two parties in the future.

Performance ID

Relatively unknown a year ago, the Independent Democrats has confounded the country with its strong performance. Major draw card of the party is its leader Patricia de Lille, favoured for her fearlessness of the ruling party, especially.

Preliminary results on Friday afternoon show the party sitting fifth position nationally with 1.77 percent after it had attracted some 262 091 votes, which relates to probably three seats in the National Assembly.

Scaling down the IFP

On a downward scale is the Inkatha Freedom Party. Support for the party has decreased compared to 1994, threatening even its coalition leadership with the DA in its power base, KwaZulu-Natal.

The party attracted some 998 575 votes on April 14, leaving it sitting third on the national list with some 6.73 percent.

A fading shining star

The United Democratic Movement, the fresh face of the 1999 elections, has also lost support.

Despite this, party leader considers his party’s performance as good as it had secured seats in five provinces. Nationally the party occupies fourth position, according to preliminary results, with 2.31 percent.

The party, regardless of a shrinking support base, will continue its opposition voice in Parliament where it will probably occupy some eight to ten seats, said Holomisa.

Death of the NNP?

Of all the parties who have fallen in the popularity stakes, the New National Party has probably been hit the hardes. Its poor performance has been called its death knell. Beaten even by newcomers, the Independent Democrats, the party finds itself sixth on the national list, after it had to relinquish even its stronghold, the Western Cape, to the ANC. The ANC has, however, said it will honour its coalition agreement with the NNP.

There is widespread speculation on the future of the party following its weak performance on April 14, but party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk has said despite the erosion of the party’s popularity, it will continue to advocate its reconciliation message as espoused in the coalition agreement with the ruling party.

PAC misled on rocky road

Liberation-movement the Pan Africanist Congress has also seen a dip in votes. The party has been on a rocky road of late, and according to one of its former high-profile members, Patricia de Lille, one of its downfalls is that it has struggled to make the transition "from a liberation movement to parliamentary politics", a flaw probably noticed by voters too.

A Christian disappointment

The African Christian Democratic Party has shown improvement. The party has predicted that it might become the official opposition in 10 years' time.

It managed to garner 1.6 percent of the national vote. The ACDP said this was disappointing considering that 70 percent of the country's inhabitants were Christians.

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