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Opposition realignments and ruling party exits open up the field for next year's election, The resignation of Mavuso Msimang, deputy president of the African National Congress Veterans' League (ANCVL) and a respected lifelong activist, has widened cracks in the ruling party. It also points to a deepening generational divide within the ruling party's affiliates. ANC Youth League members have been lambasting the elders' 'conservatism' and its President Collen Malatji is demanding its members get a quota of 50% on the party's list of parliamentary candidates.
A new contender has entered the crowded opposition field with a plan to take on the ruling party in next year's elections, Outgoing chairman of FirstRand Bank, Roger Jardine, has surfaced as the latest contender to lead an alliance of opposition parties against the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in next year's national elections. His supporters calculate that his anti-apartheid struggle credentials and his business experience would give him more electoral weight than the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen, who is the prime mover behind the alliance.
Both the ruling African National Congress and the main opposition Democratic Alliance are struggling to navigate a new political era, The latest opinion survey results – by the Social Research Foundation, Ipsos and the Brenthurst Foundation – are unanimous that the African National Congress's (ANC) share of the vote in next year's elections will dip well below 50%; some polls suggest it could fall below 40% on present trends. This prospect worries both the leaders of the ANC and the biggest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in different ways.
In a press briefing on Sunday, EFF leader Julius Malema said his party does not have a problem with opposition parties choosing not to work with them ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Zille was speaking at the DA Gauteng provincial congress in Boksburg, which is set to elect a leader who is likely to stand as its premier candidate in 2024's general elections.