Campaign posters for political parties competing in the national election. Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images
JOHANNESBURG - Political analyst Bheki Mngomezulu believes election manifestos are overrated and have little influence on voters.
He said they have become little more than a tick-box exercise.
Mngomezulu said many voters make decisions without reading manifestos, while others choose their party long before election day.
His comments came as the ANC launched its election manifesto in Johannesburg.
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“Manifestos don't win elections. And I base that argument on the fact that there are people who vote for political parties having not read even one word of the manifesto.
“I'm not talking about the first sentence or first paragraph, just one word of the manifesto, but they still vote for the party anyway. And then there are those who tell themselves long before the election that I will never vote for party X, whatever X stands for.
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“So it doesn't really matter how much time you put into crafting a manifesto. The reality is that people will vote for other reasons other than reading the manifesto.
“As for the ANC, yes, indeed, the ANC has commanded support in the country since 1994, but their support has been waning in each and every election. And there are a number of reasons for that, which you can talk about at a later stage. But the reality is that what the ANC is doing is what other political parties are doing, which is basically an exercise that, before an election, you launch a manifesto where you promise people what you are going to do,” Mngomezulu said.
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He questioned what new thing the was the ANC was going to do now that they had been unable to do before.
“Those are some of the questions that are more critical for me, which is why last week I was talking at another event and I said, if I had it my way, those parties that have been in the game for too long should not be launching manifestos because we already know what they're capable of. We also know what their weaknesses are,” added Mngomezulu.