It appears that many South Africans have a somewhat abusive relationship with the ANC. No matter how much the party lies, cheats, and steals, they always promise not to do it again – and their supporters gobble it up.

The Western Cape has been under the DA’s leadership for a while now, but in this case, a few dropped balls might actually cost the party.

There’s no doubting that they’ve been on the backfoot over the past few months, and Capetonians were still fuming over the Day Zero fiasco when the DA began trying to oust Patricia de Lille.

Spoiler alert – that has not gone well.

Now, according to market research and consulting firm Ipsos, the race for the Western Cape is tighter than ever. Here’s IOL:

The ANC and the DA are neck and neck as they polled 26% and 28% respectively in the Western Cape. This as the ANC, under President Cyril Ramaphosa, has made a dramatic recovery in terms of voter support ahead of next year’s general elections…

Mari Harris, Ipsos director of public affairs, said it appeared South Africans were moving past the era of the ANC that was led by Zuma. The Ipsos report around this time last year showed the ANC support base at 45% [now at 60%]. “The Ramaphosa factor is big because suddenly there is a leader that people trust and can look up to. If you look at our results after Cyril’s 100 days, there is a lot of trust expressed in the new president, and people are willing to give him a chance,” Harris said.

Ipsos did say that these figures are not a prediction for next year’s national election, as many events are likely to sway voting behaviour before then.

According to Business Tech, here’s the full breakdown of those queried for the poll:

Here’s what the sample showed when posed with this statement:

So, 28% to 26% – are the DA panicking?

The survey was conducted while the DA was embroiled in infighting with City of Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille. “Whether that will reflect in actual polls we cannot say,” Squara added.

DA spokesperson Solly Malatsi said: “Everything we are doing is to make sure that we retain the Western Cape and we become the majority party in Gauteng and the Northern Cape.”

Given that 2019 is only now appearing on the horizon, there is indeed a great deal of time for everyone to muck things up.

Sadly, though, that’s often not enough to end up with politicians and their parties being held accountable.

[sources:iol&businesstech]