Is The ANC Ambitious For Hoping To Regain Control Over Gauteng?

The African National Congress seems to be full of hopes irregardless of recent scandals surrounding its leaders as it hopes to regain control over the Gauteng province.

With less than 20 days towards the general elections, the party seems to be unshaken as its Gauteng leg is set to give an update on its election campaign and also officially open the ANC pavilion to showcase its road to the election at the Rand Show in Nasrec on Friday.

The ANC in Gauteng said this was an opportunity to reflect on its campaign.

The party said its pavilion at the Rand Show would be open to visitors to the annual show which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.

Gauteng is expected to be one of several highly contested provinces at the polls, with the governing party looking at retaining control.

It is no secret that the ruling party has been through ups and down with some of its members being implicated in serious crime and state capture: ie The ruling party’s secretary-general Ace Magashule who recently found himself surrounded by allegations of state capture after the book titled State Gangster was published.

Since then the Democratic Alliance (DA) had its eye on ensuring that it has the largest share of the vote in Gauteng, with the party saying the ANC is at “its weakest” thus far in the province.

The opposition party’s head of campaigning, Jonathan Moakes said trends showed that the ANC had never been weaker in Gauteng.

According to some polling ANC support was between 47% and 50% in Gauteng two weeks ago, but had recently dropped below this. The DA’s support in the past three weeks in Gauteng is said to have apparently grown between six and seven percentage points.

 

  • The ANC currently stands on 54.7% nationally, down 1.3 percentage points from December (56%). That is down 7.4 percentage points from the 62.1% it secured in 2014. On a 71% turnout scenario, support for the party increases to 55%.
  • The DA currently stands on 21.8% nationally, up 3.1 percentage points from December (18%). That is down 0.4 percentage points from the 22.2% it secured in 2014. On a 71% turnout scenario, support for the party increases to 24%.
  • The EFF currently stands on 12.2% nationally, up 1.2 percentage points from December (11%). That is up 5.9 percentage points from the 6.3% it secured in 2014. On a 71% turnout scenario, support for the party decreases to 11%.

The DA has vowed to bring the ANC below 50% in the country’s economic hub. If this happens it is likely that the province will be governed by a coalition government.