The country’s largest political parties – the ANC and DA – fumbled the ball in many ways during their election campaign, says independent political analyst Wayne Sussman.

Electioneering starting late as a result of Covid-19, while the safety protocols implemented by government meant parties had to change their traditional campaign strategies.

WATCH: Izak du Plessis talks to political analyst Wayne Sussman about what the big parties got wrong while electioneering.

It was only in the past few weeks that political parties were able to get near their supporters.

“Although the parties did well under the circumstances, mistakes were made, especially by the ANC and the DA. The EFF and FF+ managed to run much better campaigns,” says Sussman.

“Firstly, the ANC was very slow out of the starting blocks. Its election posters only recently appeared on street poles in many provinces. There was also the issue with the party’s candidate lists, which were not ready on time.”

According to Sussman, factionalism, poor service delivery records, corruption scandals, and the court cases against Ace Magashule, Jacob Zuma and other ANC dignitaries, also reflected badly on the party.

“Above all, the Auditor-General report shows that the ANC achieved very little of value in the municipalities it governed,” says Sussman.

The DA also had its fair share of issues, such as racism, leadership problems, internal fights, and questions about the integrity of a few party leaders.

“I think a lot of their wounds have been self-inflicted, such as the issue with the election posters in Phoenix,” says Sussman.

Sussman says it is one thing to support a community protecting its property, but another to ‘set off a grenade in a volatile society’.

“When you are a party trying to appeal to all South Africans, and you pit community members against each other, you fall short of the ideals you are setting for yourself,” says Sussman.

He also criticised DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone’s ‘melt down on social media’ when she argued with trolls on Twitter, instead of giving attention to the election.

“Another mistake was when John Steenhuisen agreed to a debate on Cliff Central with Mudzuli Rakhivane. Whoever advised him to do that made a big error in judgement,” says Sussman.

According to Sussman, the EFF and FF+ ran perfect campaigns, which will be to their benefit on Election Day.

Also watch: Political analyst Wayne Sussman tells Izak du Plessis what the bigger parties have been getting right on the campaign trail.