A brutal 2020, following a decade of corruption and appalling service delivery, has set the scene for change after local government elections next year.
The old political parties have grown too comfortable on their pedestals. They feel entitled to the privileges of power. They have forgotten their primary responsibilities to serve the people who elected them and improve the quality of their lives
At the same time, many citizens are beginning to question the value of historic loyalties to parties which have failed to use the opportunities of power to demonstrate that they care.
They are beginning to understand with great clarity that historic political loyalties don't stop the rain from pouring through the roof, don't create environments for young people to achieve their potential, don't help pay the rising costs of bread and water.
The social and economic impacts of the coronavirus have dramatically heightened this consciousness. But the first signs of it came in the last local government elections, in 2016 when voters in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth denied the old parties the 50% + 1 required to form governments on their own.
A series of local government by-elections in the Western Cape in the last quarter of this year indicates that in this province, too, the crown has started slipping off an old party head.
GOOD's rapid growth is the political story of the year in the Western Cape. Among the highlights was the election of the party's first councillor, in George. More significant was the overall trend. Less than two years after being formed, the party has established itself as a major player in the region.
Comfortable DA majorities in a number of other wards in George, Oudtshoorn, Dysselsdorp and Vredenburg were reduced to rabble. GOOD candidates lost by less than 100 votes across a number of these wards. The trend is very clear.
GOOD secretary-general Brett Herron said one of the key reasons for the party's growth was its exposure of corruption in Western Cape municipalities. "Until now, the DA has profited from throwing stones at ANC corruption, while covering up its own dirt," he said.
"It has profited from the fact that there hasn't been any effective opposition in municipalities such as George and Saldanha Bay; there's been nobody to hold them to account. It was an eye-opener for voters to see GOOD handing corruption dossiers to the Public Protector, Auditor-General and police.
"The other distinguishing factor is our candidates' charge to be real ward representatives: To put the interests of the community above those of their party. This is something new to South African politics," Herron said.
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