ANC’s by-election complaint backfires, exposes housing crisis

THE ANC crying foul over alleged voter irregularities during eThekwini’s Ward 110 by-election has backfired, and laid bare the party’s failure to address South Africa’s long-standing housing crisis.

The ANC and the DA recently lodged a complaint with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of SA, claiming that 135 people were registered under a single residential address in Mount Moriah, north of Durban, during the hotly contested by-elections last week.

But instead of exposing voter fraud, the complaint has spotlighted something far more damning; millions of South Africans still don’t have proper housing — a crisis born under the ANC’s watch, after the party ascended to power during the watershed 1994 elections.

The party held onto the levers of power in the country as a single party until last year's national election, which saw the ANC only able to claim 40% of the votes cast. The ANC now governs together with nine other parties under the banner of the Government of National Unity (GNU).

A community activist, Siyabonga Gema, who has led a series of marches in Mount Moriah, said: “The ANC's complaint about the people who use the same address points to its failure to provide proper housing for poor people. People use the same address because their shacks don’t have official addresses and resorted to using the same addresses for voter registration .”

Gema said the issue of the addresses was a long-standing issue that the government had “turned a blind eye to”.

“We have been raising this for a long time, but the government, particularly the ANC government, has turned a blind eye to our calls for the provision of proper houses,” said Gema. 

Gema said the issue of people sharing the same address was widespread in the country. 

Last week’s by-election loss to the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), led by former president Jacob Zuma, was a stinging blow to the ANC and the DA. The MKP won by a mere 22 votes.   

The MKP secured 2 435 votes in narrowly defeating the DA, which bagged 2 413 votes. The ANC came in third with 966 votes in what was once its stronghold.

The MKP's Mandla Biyela will take over the reins as the ward councillor. 

Ward 110, which includes Phoenix, Mount Moriah, and Umhlanga, was previously under DA control. Mount Moriah was riddled with heavy informal settlements. 

It is estimated that between four and five million people currently reside in informal settlements in South Africa. Residents of informal settlements have limited access to basic sanitation and water services

Where such services are provided, they are usually limited, dysfunctional, and most often posing a health and safety risk.

S'bu Zikode, president of Abahlali baseMjondolo, the country's largest shack dwellers’ movement, said the ANC had been exposed “for what it is”. 

“Thousands of people in almost every shack settlement share one address. Some settlements were created by the ANC. These communities are treated as vote banks, not as human beings. We’re glad they’re being exposed.”

Abahlali BaseMjondolo have led many marches to highlight the plight of the shack dwellers, and in some instances has also hauled the government to court over the appalling conditions of informal settlements. 

IEC provincial spokesperson Thabani Ngwira said they received objections from the ANC and the DA: “We did receive a formal objection on Friday before the closure of the objection period. The matter is still being investigated.” 

Attempts to draw comment from the ANC KZN's spokesperson, Fanle Sibisi, were unsuccessful.

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