The ANC took a hit in its heartland, the Eastern Cape, and the party would be foolish not to take it very seriously. Five years ago the ANC got 79% of the votes in the province; this time it was 68%. That’s akin to the Republicans getting punched squarely in the nose by the Democrats in Texas! See the Daily Dispatch lead story here.

Not only is the Eastern Cape the historic home of many ANC leaders, it also constitutes the party’s biggest voting block, with the Amathole (King William’s Town, East London etc) and OR Tambo (Mthatha and surrounds) the biggest regional branches.

Even more interesting is the fact that at the Rhodes University polling station in Grahamstown, the ANC only got 18% of the national vote (and 16% provincially).

The DA cleaned up with the students, getting almost 50% of the national vote and 44% of the provincial vote. Cope got 24% of the national vote and 30% of provincial vote.

"Surprise!'

That means the middle class of tomorrow from the Eastern Cape is disenchanted with the ANC. Read the Daily Dispatch story here. I wonder what happened at other universities such as Wits and UCT. Has anyone come across any stats or stories ?

This generation will continue to swell the voters’ pool over the next decade and the middle class will grow. If the ANC continues as a populist party for peasants and the working class, it is highly unlikely these voters — and they are the future influential businesspeople, professionals and intellectuals — will vote ANC, let alone go into party politics.

Once the ANC was the home of brightest and most ambitious young people. No longer.

Pic courtesy of cool public domain images website of images published prior to 1923.

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