In South Africa, Talk of a One-Party State
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- Kepano
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more from News:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/04/22/ST20090...
Fifteen years into democracy, Peter Dlhamini still lives in a shack on land that is not his, where the toilet is a pit in the ground and the television is not plugged into an outlet -- there is none -- but hooked up to a generator.The African National Congress, which has led South Africa since liberating it from white rule, has done too little, Dlhamini said. But the party still has his vote.
"They started this problem," the carpet installer, 61, said at his home in this squatter settlement south of Johannesburg. "They have to solve it."
As many as 23 million South Africans will cast ballots Wednesday in an election featuring a new opposition party that has sought to attract disenchanted ANC voters. Yet opinion polls released this week predict that 67 percent of South Africans will, like Dlhamini, vote for the ruling party. That would preserve its dominance for another five years -- a prospect that has some here asking whether this beacon of democracy is becoming a one-party state.
The presidential candidate for the Congress of the People, the new opposition party, said last week that long-lived ruling parties in other African nations have "virtually turned into dictators" and that South Africa seemed headed down that perilous path. Helen Zille, the leader of the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, has exhorted voters to prevent South Africa from becoming "a failed one-party state."
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- News, News and Politics, South Africa
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JohnA
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"The African National Congress, which has led South Africa since liberating it from white rule, has done too little, Dlhamini said. But the party still has his vote."
I'm just going to bite my tounge here for a while.
- 10 months ago
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JohnA
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tome_erau
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South Africa is not a very old democracy so it doesn't suprise me that the party of Nelson Mandela, the party that freed the country, is still in power. Gandhi's political party held power for like 15 years. I think the Congress of the People shows a lot of promise of at least bringing South Africa to a 2 party start. Definetly to early to judge them.
- 10 months ago
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tome_erau
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pjacobs51
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We just have a two party system, and that's bad enough. The Congress of the People need to get the ball rolling, maybe get some tips from American politicians (umm, just the good stuff) and get their word out.
- 10 months ago
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pjacobs51
