Nowhere is the case for a meritocracy more evident than in South Africa. No matter how corrupt, lying, thieving the ANC is, the fact that people are still willing to give them their vote despite ample evidence that the party is not acting in their best interests defies belief. This is the downside to democracy. People that lack the wherewithal to understand the consequences of their decisions should not be allowed to vote. Democracy is meaningless if it means government by the stupid.
ANC near to two-thirds majority - Markinor
The popular support of the African National Congress currently stands at just below a two-thirds majority. The Congress of the People meanwhile enjoys the support of just under ten percent of the electorate. This is according to an opinion poll conducted by Markinor at the beginning of March this year. The results were reported in Beeld newspaper on Friday.
The poll, conducted on behalf of Media24, surveyed 3,531 registered voters who were planning to vote. According to Markinor the ANC enjoyed the stated support of 64,7% of respondents, the DA 10,8%, COPE 8,9%, the IFP 2,7%, the ID 1,1%, UDM 0.7%, ACDP 0.6%, and UCDP 0,3%. 10% of those polled remained undecided.
Compared to an equivalent poll conducted shortly before the 2004 election (see table below) the ANC's support is down four points, the IFP is down 2 points, and the DA is up one-and-a-half points. In the past two election cycles Markinor has accurately predicted the size of the ANC majority. It has though tended to underestimated the support for the IFP and DA.
Previous posts;
Meritocracy: The Progeny of Democracy
Creating Equal? It’s Just Not Possible
Meritocracy is a system of a government or other organization wherein appointments are made and responsibilities are given based on demonstrated talent and ability (merit), rather than by wealth (plutocracy), family connections (nepotism), class privilege (oligarchy), friends (cronyism), seniority (gerontocracy), popularity (as in democracy) or other historical determinants of social position and political power. In a meritocracy, society rewards (by wealth, position, and social status) those who show talent and competence as demonstrated by past actions or by competition.
8 Opinion(s):
It was once said that it is not important who you vote for, its more important who counts the votes.
Do you really trust the IEC?
Sigh, it sounds like a stuck record, but when your average IQ is only 67 you have no capacity to grasp consequences therefore you simply vote along tribal or ethnic lines. We could do a simple experiment. Transplant the ANC representatives face with a white face, and vice versa, it will probably result in a significant amount of switched votes in favour of another party. As George Bernhard Shaw said "In a democracy you get the government you deserve."
Who are you or Vanilla Ice or anyone else for that matter to make yourselves God and determine who is too stupid to vote? I thought the majority of Americans who returned Bush to office in 2004 were rather stupid frankly, but I would never propose taking vote away from any adult. Those statements reflect good old apartheid mentality. Moreover, has it occurred to you that the reason majority of S Africans vote for ANC is that despite all of SA's problems and the ANC's failure to deliver services to many areas, the majority of people simply do not trust the other parties and that this goes back to legacy of apartheid? I am rather surprised actually that COPE is not doing better, but I suppose I shouldn't be since they entered the game a little too late. They may have better chance at 2014 but for now I think unless hell or high water comes to SA, in a manner of figurative speech, you are looking at Zuma as next president of SA. And maybe some have a point that I do not understand everything about SA from only 6 months there, certainly I would understand it better if I spend 16 months there or 6 years. But it seems to me that regardless of what Zuma may or may not have done in the convoluted arms deal of 1999-2000, where corruption charges stem from, he articulates some good ideas and he is worth giving a shot at running SA. And contrary to what that British journalist said in the article you posted a week ago, I think it is a plus that he directed MK's intelligence unit, whether or not that involved training by KGB. The KGB was ruthless to say the least, but they knew what they were doing when it came to gathering information and intelligence.
The real morons were about 70 % of the Whites that voted YES in 1992 for some confirmed traitors that helped the commie boons to get where they are today. It says a lot for the tolerance ( or ignorance )of white South Africans that a FW. de Klerk and a Roelf Meyer have not been lynched yet.
The result of this YES vote is irreversable in our lifetime. We can wail all we want democratie can only give reasonable results when the vast majority has a modicum of intelligence and when it is not commercialised as in the USA. In about 20 years we will have war lords running certain areas and a free for all will be the rule.
I predict that if the human race can persist long enough the world is going to change and people are going to accept meritocracies like we presently accept the democracy or communism. I also predict that the change is going to be a violent event, like the World Wars. The catalyst will be the over-utilization of our natural resources. I predict those that survive will be challenged with temptation to resort to the dictatorships of old (or present day Africa). Hope I will still be around to tell you, “I told you so!”
Hey BC, you said "I think it is a plus that he directed MK's intelligence unit". Read the post "What we're getting with Zuma" to see his 'style' of command and how 'beneficial' it was when Zuma was directing the intelligence unit.
Maybe Amnesty Intl is lying as well huh? Where do you get your facts from? Come on Greg, at this rate you'll never get that PhD. Howard Uni is it? Isn't that a mostly black college?
The Washington Post reported some years ago that Howard U. was producing functionally illiterate teachers from their masters progam.
That speaks volumes for this fellow's comments and choice of University. Then again The Washington Post was probably just being racist, not so BC?
Doberman - I was no aware of that particular report by Amnesty, my interviewees told me nothing about this, they only hinted at tensions which existed within the ANC. One learns something new every day, this is certainly something to consider. I got to know Piers Pigou quite well while I was doing research through SAHA documents. One of my black interviewees did tell me he thought the TRC only touched tip of iceberg when it came to investigating black-on-black violence. So, who know, I may be wrong about Zuma. It is always difficult to predict politicians though. Whiteadder mentioned something about De Klerk. Notwithstanding the fact that I and him will probably always disagree about fact that I think De Klerk did right thing by dismantling apartheid, from what I have read just recently about De Klerk no one expected him to be a reformer. By 1989 he had developed a reputation for being more conservative than Botha.
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