NEXT week’s local government elections will give South Africans an indication of whether the ANC is destined to become a rural party, says Dumisani Hlophe, CEO of the Kunjalo Centre for Democracy.The polls on Wednesday are the most hotly contested since 1994 and according to an Ipsos opinion poll, the DA could get the majority of votes in the Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay municipalities.Hlophe tells Business Day TV that should the DA manage to capture the main metros in Gauteng and elsewhere, the ANC will know if, sooner or later, it will become a party that dominates only in rural areas, like Zanu (PF) in Zimbabwe. This would be a big blow to the ANC as there is no real financial muscle there, and "to exact the real political power, you need to have control of the metros", says Hlophe.However, he believes that the elections will result in the DA’s reaching its ceiling. "I don’t think they are likely to bring anything new beyond these elections," he says.Hlophe also says the EFF, w...
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