EFF made the most bizarre promise of this local government election campaign

The most bizarre promise of this local government election campaign was made by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to Abathembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo.

After receiving a cow from the party, the king revealed he had been promised a Mercedes-Benz ML, “a vehicle fit for a king”, according to him. Putting aside the fact that the EFF has promised the king a discontinued vehicle in a desperate bid to get his endorsement, it is simply crass and distasteful that a leader can publicly declare his vote is for sale.

Hopefully the people who matter – the voters – ignored it and voted for service delivery from whatever party. As political parties wait for the results to start trickling in, internal party machinery will move into gear to start preparing for the next five years.

Some will even try to have an honest reflection and look at what they did wrong on the campaign trail. And those that lost will rue the missed opportunities to truly engage with the electorate.

What all parties forget is that it is not a Mercedes-Benz or promises of land and jobs that win them votes, it is what they do when they are in office. The biggest lost opportunity is not losing a voter to another party, it is not delivering on the basics.

Contrary to what the nation keeps getting told, that this is a young democracy, previous election results have proven that it is a maturing democracy and voters cannot be taken for granted any more.

Those old enough to remember the first democratic election in ’94 will recall that politically there were so-called no-go areas forcertain parties. It was foreign to come across election posters of certain parties in the townships.

In fact, not only could certain parties not campaign in certain areas, individuals who would have dared to stand for office for those parties would have been hounded out of those areas and, yes, even killed.

The election results in those areas were foregone conclusions. And that bred arrogance in the ruling party – arrogance that bred campaign slogans like “we will rule until Jesus comes” and “Asinavalo” (we are not afraid of ever losing because the result is guaranteed).

Then, the local government elections in 2016 happened – and for the first time the Johannesburg and Tshwane metros were not guaranteed to the ruling party.

The electorate had clearly communicated to the ruling party that this was no longer 1994 and there were no boundaries for other parties to where they could campaign.

The voters chose not to wait for the Second Coming. Sadly, in some areas of the country, it had not dawned on the voters that the reason there are other parties on the ballot paper is for their benefit.

As the ANC, the DA, the EFF and ActionSA (possible surprise kingmakers) get their calculators ready for the next couple of days, South Africans must be grateful that this democratic project is maturing, albeit painfully slowly. The EFF will find out soon enough if their promise of a Merc worked or not.

And for the sake of whatever little amount of dignity the king still commands, may he not find himself singing Brenda Fassie’s song “Promises, I’m tired of promises, because they turn to lies” without a car “fit for kings”.