The politics of Politics

We have had the elections and the results have been tallied, the African National Congress (ANC) has won – no surprise there. The Democratic Alliance (DA) has progressed and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has become a formidable player and second contender to the leadership/rule of South Africa – who would have thought.

I have mentioned before, I have great admiration for Juju, et al. as a functioning business; though I may not agree with their strategies and vision, I do admire their tenacity and entrepreneurial spirit.

The most noteworthy thing for me was the rapid decline and apparent irrelevance, at least according to the voting stats, of political parties like Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Congress Of the People (COPE) and the United Democratic Movement (UDM). Looking at it from a corporate outlook, this poses some interesting food for thought.


If we take these three political as struggling companies, clearly with blood in the water, it would be time to hostile take overs. The most hostile would have to be the takeover of the IFP by the National Freedom Party (NFP). That would now be a sight for you; an offshoot or unintended spin-out taking over the mother body.

The DA would be poised to acquire the UDM and COPE and with left over reserves (for I assume that in such an exercise, the acquired entities would be so worthless that they would be going for a steal) take over the Freedom Front Plus – that would give the Democratic Alliance 100 seats in the South African Parliament and offer some leadership depth for a party that will struggle come 2019 to find a leader that will appeal to the greater youth vote of the day.

If these were commercial entities, the venture funder for Agang South Africa (AgangSA) would be quite pissed, with all the venture capital it has received it has not shown any potential for a future after 2014. Two seats in parliament…it’s a slow start.

178 051 voters just wasted their vote on parties that have no chance of offering any contributions to this country – that translates to at minimum 4 seats in parliament. These political parties are like penny stocks companies without any puff left.

The spoiled votes, deliberate or not – all 251 960, would almost equate the number of seats gotten by the NFP and a potential contributor to real democracy in this country.


At the end of it all, it is over, now to focus on building this country and contribute meaningfully as citizens.

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