Why political parties are turning to traditional leaders to boost votes

Share current article via Email Share current article via Facebook Share current article via Twitter Share current article via LinkedIn Story audio is generated using AI One of the understated features of this year's local government election campaign season is the extent to which political parties are increasingly relying on traditional leaders to get votes. As urban voters turn their backs on political parties, many choosing to stay away on election day, politicians are looking to consolidate their support in rural areas and believe that they can best achieve this by being closer to traditional leaders. The phenomenon is not new. There have always been political parties whose support base was largely rural and who saw traditional leadership as an important component of their electoral machinery and network. Traditionally, these were political parties whose roots could be traced back to the apartheid-era 'homeland' system and who often defined their core support base through ethnicity and language. But as the democratic system matured, even those parties that were largely seen as urban-biased and working-class supported started to place more emphasis on consolidating electoral support in rural areas. There is nothing wrong with this. In a democracy all are equal – be they from urban or rural areas. The ANC, which has been the country's dominant party since the advent of SA democracy, for instance, received most of its votes in the 1990s and early 2000s in townships and other urban centres. However, recent electoral trends, such as the 2021 local elections and the 2024 general elections, show a former liberation movement that is fast losing the confidence of its urban base – with some of its traditional supporters looking for other political homes while the overwhelming majority decided to quit voting altogether. It is perhaps not surprising then that a significant portion of the ANC's election manifesto this year is devoted to building better relations between the party, the councils it runs and traditional leaders. ANC mayors and their executive committees in areas that have traditional leadership are expected to meet royal houses and traditional leaders on a regular basis to brief them about developmental plans of such councils. Speaking at the launch of its manifesto a few weeks ago, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa promised that his party would work with the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA (Contralesa) and other rural leadership formations to cement his party's ties with amakhosi. Last weekend, as the president started his nationwide campaign in support of ANC local government candidates, Ramaphosa held an engagement in Jabulani with traditional leaders. Other party leaders, including national chairperson Gwede Mantashe, have been seen in the Eastern Cape and other provinces wooing traditional leaders. In this, the ANC is not alone. Since its inception, former president Jacob Zuma's MK Party has sought to position itself as a party that champions the rights of traditional leaders and rural communities – even going as far as promising to 'return' some of the power and authority of the democratic state to kings and queens. While this approach may have worked for Zuma in some parts of KZN, it has not yet yielded the same kind of success in other rural parts of the country. However, this has not stopped him from trying. The MKP appears to see its growth path in the Eastern Cape mainly through the prism of traditional leadership, and Zuma has visited the province on several occasions, meeting iinkosi. The MKP leader is clearly adopting a similar strategy in Limpopo, where, over the past two years, he has met queen Manyaku Maria Thulare of the Bapedi kingdom twice. Even the so-called leftist parties – some professing to be for an egalitarian society where there shall be no kings and subjects – are falling over each other in the stampede to meet traditional leaders ahead of the polls. Think the EFF, Solly Mapaila's SACP and Floyd Shivambu's Mayibuye. Clearly there is logic to this. Being seen rubbing shoulders with dikgosi may put a political party and its representatives in good stead in the eyes of those who follow that traditional leader. But just because you have been endorsed by mahosi in a certain rural authority doesn't mean that you are guaranteed the votes. If that was the case, a red overalls-wearing Julius Malema supporter would be mayor in OR Tambo, in the former Transkei – an area that falls under the traditional authority of abaThembu king Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo. However, what do the traditional leaders gain from this fawning by politicians ahead of the elections? They can use it to secure more personal benefits from the state. Already, Ramaphosa, clearly with an eye on November 4, promised in July salaries, medical aid, and pension benefits 'similar to other public servants' for traditional leaders. But they can also realise the tremendous power they now command, as a result of the ANC and other parties' decline in popularity among urban voters, and demand better services and economic development for the rural areas under their jurisdictions. It is all in their hands.