Lucas Ledwaba
The Vryheidsfront Plus is emerging as a surprise package in the 2019 general and provincial elections according to indications from preliminary results trickling in through the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
By 1.30pm on Thursday, the party – which draws its support from the white Afrikaner right -was doing amazingly well with a national total average of 2.97 %; translating to at least 177,734 votes.
Its support in the 2014 general election had decline from the 424,555 (nine seats) it scored in the 1994 election to 165,715 – which translates to four seats in the National Assembly.
However, with the IEC having counted less than half of the vote it appears the party may gain further seats in Parliament this year.
The growth of the Vryheidsfront, after its support declined considerably during the last 25 years, raises key questions.
Could it be that the party which draws considerable support from the white farming community has been rattled by the emergence of the radical EFF and its hard stance on the land issue?
The EFF has cornered the ANC into ganging up on the question of amending the Constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation, a development that has the predominantly white parties in jitters.
The land issue is central to the Vryheidsfront agenda, which includes maintaining the status quo as far as the skewed land ownership demographics are concerned.
The preliminary results in fact allude to the Vryheidsfront’s strong presence in agricultural towns and rural provinces like Limpopo, North West, Mpumalanga and Free State.
The development also begs the question, that although the DA is also doing fairly well with a 23.59% average in the early afternoon on Thursday, could it be that the party’s conservative supporters has finally decided Mmusi Maimane is not the man to lead them and, most crucially, advance their battle to wad-off Julius Malema’s efforts to grab their farms?
The Vryheidsfront was performing even much better than the traditional black left-leaning parties, the PAC of Azania and Azapo. The PAC had managed to secure just over 12,000 votes and Azapo 5,079. The worrying figures also raise the question whether this election marks the end of the Africanist and black Consciousness left and the rise of the white right-wing yet again?
I find the existence of this party disturbing and the support of it, dangerous. It is the most worrying development in SA politics this election. I can only suggest that it is the result of a pendulum swing reaction to stabilise the national dialogue after extreme left wing activity from BFLF and some voices in the EFF in recent months? Couple this with the general panic that the Zondo Commission illicits as it unveils the depth of government corruption, and it’s the perfect political storm. We have an unstable and frightening daily reality that is promoting radical ideologies. I agree that many white South Africans realised that Maimane is not the man for the job after President Ramaphosa was elected. Do 180 000 white South Africans really see the FF as an alternative? God forbid.