Football is only the second favorite sport for the majority of South Africans, ranking well behind political infighting. let’s take a quick but representative tour, shall we?
The African National Congress (ANC) is firmly in control of all aspects of politics in South Africa except for within its own party. Corruption is a constant issue, and the party promises that it will address the role that money plays in electing party leaders at the party’s national general council in September. The ANC still sits comfortably in the catbird seat in South African politics, but I do not have a sense that there is a whole lot of enthusiasm for Jacob Zuma and his inner circle. That won’t matter any time soon, unless the leftists within the party alliance, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and particularly the always-techy Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), decide to bolt. Of course the volatile ANC Youth League is seemingly always a source of concern for the party elders, but for now anyway the Youth League falls in the category of distraction.
Things in the Democratic Alliance (DA) might be changing in a significant way, as the party might be merging with the Independent Democrats, a move that makes sense, meaning that something will probably scuttle the alliance. The goal is to “realign” opposition politics in South Africa, though it remains to be seen what effect the merger would have on the persistent perception that the DA is a party by and for whites.
For a brief and shining moment it appeared that the Congress of the People (COPE) might be on the path to supplanting the DA as the country’s official opposition and eventually providing a legitimate challenge to the ANC, especially in some of the provinces. Those dreams seem like a distant fantasy. COPE is in tatters. There has been an ugly internecine leadership fight between Mbhazima Shilowa and Mosiuoa Lekota, with Lekota apparently emerging as the victor in a struggle that has tainted the whole endeavor even as serious accusations of financial improprieties surround the party.
Meanwhile the Inkatha Freedom Party (yes, the IFP still exists) is, according to one analyst, “in serious trouble, it is a sinking ship and the captain [a reference to party strongman Mangosuthu Buthelezi] has failed dismally.” That’s tough but fair.