DISCUSSION | Do faces matter more than political ideologies?

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Are the faces of politicians more important than the political ideologies of the political movements? This question has been put at the centre of the local political field following the performance of the few-month-old uMkhonto weSizwe Party in the 2024 general elections.

While political parties crisscrossed the country to state what they stand for in attempts to woo votes, the MK Party was in and out of courts fighting to have former President Jacob Zuma’s face on the ballot. As the results started trickling in the wee hours of Thursday, the MK Party proved itself to be a force to be reckoned with and knocked the EFF from being the third biggest party in the country.

The Inkatha Freedom Party, on the other hand, failed to convince the IEC to have their founder, the late Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s face on the ballot. The performance has been far from impressive, all of which beg the question, do faces matter more in local political circles?

Dr Dale Mckinley thinks otherwise.

“I don’t think we can make a general statement to say all the people are concerned with one thing or another. But I want to take up this issue of whether it was IFP or MK. For me, my interpretation of the vote for the MK is that it’s a protest vote about one individual,” he says.

Mckinley further argues that the MK Party’s performance has nothing to do with the ANC’s failures.

“It has nothing to do with the fact that the ANC has not delivered, because that individual was the president of the country for 10 years, himself, and has been part of the ANC his entire life. So, I don’t think it was about that and the feeling of victimhood that ‘we have been wronged and we are going to teach you a lesson’. I think the same with the IFP is that whether it’s Mangosuthu Buthelezi or others, there are people who identify with those individuals. There are certain people who vote with their stomachs.”

But for Dr Imraan Buccus the 2024 election results indicate there is an element of tribalism in how citizens vote.

“There certainly is a tribalistic element and I think this comes with a rise of populism. Again, one does not want to dwell on the international examples but we have seen this internationally too. In the US, kick out the Mexicans, kick out the Muslims. So, there is a scapegoating of minorities. There’s also an ethnic element,” says Buccus, warning against such a phenomenon.

“And we see that, not only with MK, but also with Patriotic Alliance. This kind of degeneration of our politics into ethnic politics and I think that’s dangerous. That’s really, really dangerous.”

Buccus is, however, not the first to highlight the element of tribalism in how citizens seem to choose to vote. ANC Chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, expressed dismay at the MK Party’s showing, quickly pointing out that it was a backward form of politics.

Professor Lesiba Teffo says Mantashe’s comments were irresponsible.

“Zuma is sent to Harry Gwala, Natal, he gets massive support. Now, he leaves the ANC and he gets massive support. At which point is he tribalistic and the Zulus are tribalistic. At that point, when they were supporting the ANC they were not tribalistic. Today, because they are supporting a different … come on, that was an extremely irresponsible statement that he made and it is such statements that are sources of conflicts and civil wars.”

The issue of illegal immigrants, which the Patriotic Alliance seemed to capitalise on, was also dealt with by the three esteemed members of this discussion, with Buccus highlighting the tendency to scapegoat the vulnerable in society.

DISCUSSION | Do faces matter more than political ideologies?