SA Problems

What do the big metros look like : Johannesburg (27% of voting districts counted): DA leading at ~38% ANC ~17% ActionSA ~16 to 17% Pretoria: DA and ActionSA both strong (ActionSA performing well) ANC trailing in third in many early figures. Cape Town: DA well ahead (~60%). East Rand: DA leading. Durban: MK Party leading in early/partial counts (counting slower here).

America struggles with the limitations of a two-party system. South Africa, meanwhile, has the opposite problem: an excess of political parties, with 546 contesting today's 2026 municipal elections. But the problem isn't simply the number of parties. It's the concentration of political power in the hands of a few dominant players, principally the ANC and the DA. And when political competition becomes a choice between two entrenched establishments, genuine accountability inevitably suffers. I have always acknowledged that the DA is considerably better at managing towns, cities and provinces than the ANC. But my once ardent and unwavering support for the party ended when I began to recognise that its commitment to accountability and the rule of law was not nearly as uncompromising as I had believed. Apparently, corruption and illegality could be viewed through different lenses, depending on who stood to benefit. Take the illegal petrol station built on a protected wetland in Boksburg. When it was owned by Andre du Plessis, the opposition was vociferous. But when ownership passed to Hilary and Jonathan Bentel, the resistance seemingly evaporated. Suddenly, there were ribbon-cuttings and champagne glasses clinking on the forecourt. Then there was the campaign against Waterfall Estate, which threatened one of the last remaining precious, contiguous tracts of Egoli granite grassland. A fight that was once vigorously pursued somehow became a battle no longer worth fighting. And Helderfontein Residential Estate, another development mired in serious questions of legality, against the backdrop of a GDARD administration I have long argued was riddled with corruption. Now we have Willie Aucamp, Minister of Agriculture, refusing point-blank to advance the animal welfare legislation that has become the focus of our Sky's Law campaign. So, once again, we are left with little choice but to turn to the courts to demand accountability. This is precisely why political allegiance should never be unconditional. Parties are not institutions deserving of blind loyalty. They are supposed to be accountable to the people who elect them. South Africa deserves better than the ANC. It also deserves better than a political landscape in which the DA is increasingly treated as the only credible alternative, regardless of its own failures. We don't need America's dysfunctional two-party duopoly, nor do we need hundreds of parties incapable of offering meaningful alternatives. We need genuine political competition, principled leadership and, above all, accountability. Because democracy is not about choosing which political establishment gets to disappoint you. It's about having the power to hold all of them to account. No party should ever be bigger than the principles it claims to represent.