Briefing+Book

media type="custom" key="9485466" Frustration In Municipal Elections South Africans vent how frustrated they are about the government system. The people are tired of politics in general. The election occured yesterday,this race will be seen as a barometer of the strength of Zuma and his ruling African National Congress. President Zuma is pushing people to vote saying that this is one of the most important things someone can do. Some South Africans feel that voting on principle is not a very good feeling when you cant vote for a party you believe in. The people of South Africa are very careful when it comes to voting because the South African government has not followed up on several promises in the past.

ANC Ahead With eighty percent of the votes turned in, election officials say that South Africa's African National Congress has won sixty four percent of the vote in the municipal elections across the country. The main opposition of the African National Congress (ANC) is the Democratic Alliance (DA), the DA is believed to have won nearly wenty-two percent of the vote. The ANC has been in power for the most part since 1994 when the apartheid was ended The ANC nearly matched its showing in the last municipal elections in 2006. The Democratic Alliance gained, drawing support from smaller parties rather than the dominant ANC. The person who wrote this piece seems to be more favorable to the opposition of the ANC and makes the ANC out to be more of a dictatorship.

Opposition Gains In Local Election South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance increased its share of the vote in yesterday’s municipal elections, while failing to win control of any more major cities, partial results show. With about 11.9 million ballots counted, the African National Congress had 62.8 percent of the vote, while the DA had 24.2 percent, said the Indepedent Electoral Commission in Pretoria, the capital. That compares with 65.9 percent and 16.6 percent, respectively, in the national election in 2009. “The ANC should be worried,” Prince Mashele, executive- director for the Johannesburg-based Center for Politics and Research, said in an interview. “We now know the DA is a permanent feature of the political landscape. This boost will set them up for the long-term.” The ANC has won every election since 1994 with more than 60 percent of the vote as many black supporters remain loyal to the party because of its decades-long fight against apartheid. Now, rising unemployment in a country where one in four people are without jobs, and a lack of basic services such as sanitation in many townships, is beginning to weaken that support.

ANC Loss; A Win Fo Democracy Like the past three articles this article is talking about how the ANC will win the election do to their many black supporters who have acked them since they demolished the apartheid. But their percentages have dropped since the last municipal election. by about three percent. There has been a jump in support for the Democratic Alliance which may suggest that the people of South Africa are moving towards more of a democracy, when they have been for the past tweo decades a one party country. It is two early to predict the ANC's eventual loss of power. A similiar situation occured when Nelson Mandela retired from being President in 2000, the ANC's support dropped below sixty percent and the Democratic Alliance gained power. In 2006 the Anc gained their power back and the Deocratic Alliance watched their support wither away.

Crocodiles Cause Voting Delay A crocodile infested river delayed the opening of a polling station during influential local elections on Wednesday. The polling stations opened nearly two hours late in the Limpopo Provinces because the election officials could not cross the Olifants River to reach voters. The election officials had to wait until an army vehicle came to take them across. the Polling stations were set up in a primary school in Lebowakgomo. These elections are beilieved to be the most hotly contested since the first free vote was held in South Africa since 1994. This article also talks about how the DA is gaining ground slowly, but that ANC is looking to come out on top in the election. It seems this is the way most people feel about these elections, but they also believe that the tides will eventually turn and that the DA will eventually gain enough ground to become the victor.