ANC 2016 Municipal Election tactics Mail and Guardian, Johannesburg, 4 September 2015 (shortened) The ANC plans to shortlist four potential candidates in each Johannesburg ward and present them to the communities they seek to represent. This approach, the party believes, will make residents feel included in the political process and assure them that councillors will be accountable to residents. The Democratic Alliance has made it clear that it wants to wrest control of Tshwane and Johannesburg in Gauteng, and it also has high hopes for Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Bay metro and the Tlokwe council in Potchefstroom. Although most of the country's cities and towns, especially in rural areas, remain safe bets for the ANC, a number of critical councils are at play. In Tshwane, last year's general election saw ANC support plummet to just 50.96%, and in Johannesburg the ANC vote came in at 53.63%. In Nelson Mandela Bay, a stronghold of the rebel National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) that was recently expelled from the COSATU fold, recent by-elections saw the United Democratic Movement unexpectedly secure ward seats. In East London's Buffalo City metro, a combination of drought and economic downturn is hitting residents hard. In Limpopo, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has made concerted efforts to organise since its surprisingly impressive showing in the 2014 general elections. But the ANC is fighting back, and many factors suggest that it could yet reverse its fortunes in battleground cities. ANC Johannesburg regional secretary Dada Morero said the party's branches will nominate four potential candidates to present to the relevant community, where they will work on convincing voters of their suitability to lead. "They will explain themselves to their own ward and, based on the response, we will make appointments," Morero said. The M&G reported in April that the ANC's draft guidelines for municipal elections include potential questions for public interviews such as what the prospective candidate has done for the community, what they see as the main problems the ANC must address, how the candidate would contribute to strengthening the council if elected and what skills the candidate would bring to the council. The ANC still has numerous advantages over the competition. The cities likely to be the most contested next year differ widely from one another and ward by ward, suggesting that over-arching national strategies may be less important than hyperlocal campaigns at the level of individual streets. With its extensive network of branches and its large membership pool, the ANC will be able to knock on more doors and organise more micro-events than all the other parties combined. That reach will also give the party an advantage in the critical process of mobilising voters to head to the polls. And although the youth vote and the extent to which the EFF can harness it remains a wild card - having made the EFF the third-biggest party in Parliament by a considerable margin - not everyone is convinced it will be significant. In South Africa, as all over the world, young voters are more unwilling than any group other than the aged (which is comparatively small in number) to register, travel to the polls and queue if necessary. "Even in national elections, which benefit from a great deal of media attention and a national campaign, [young people's] turnout levels are markedly lower than older voters," said Robert Mattes of the University of Cape Town's political studies department. Asked if first-time voter numbers could surprise in 2016, in light of the surge in political activism on campuses in recent months, Mattes cautioned against giving too much weight to "what could be a very small number of students on elite campuses". Although young people who support the EFF - or the DA or other parties, especially as a pushback against EFF campaigning - could serve to mobilise students on university campuses in ways not previously seen, there is little evidence that they can similarly mobilise broader communities at street level. Research by Mattes and others has found that young people are poorly integrated into their communities, and that the more politically thoughtful among them are even less connected to their neighbours than the politically apathetic are. In addition, an electoral analysis by economist Paul Berkowitz has found strong support for the EFF in Gauteng among Sepedi and Setswana first-language speakers and migrants from Limpopo, suggesting even greater isolation. Other indicators, such as the DA's shock win in student representative council elections at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape in May, also suggest that the visibility of the EFF on various campuses may be greater than its actual support. From: http://mg.co.za/article/2015-09-03-anc-plans-us-style-election-debates -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. 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