Opinion / Columnist
ANC's misleading and false media statement
16 Aug 2016 at 09:26hrs | Views
A misleading and false media statement was issued and published on the African National Congress' website (http://www.anc.org.za) on 5 August. It was stated that "an unprecedented 14 million votes have been cast in favour of the African National Congress in this election… In 2011, the ANC secured 8.1 million votes." Below is an excerpt of this statement:
Many more vote ANC in 2016 than ever before
05 August 2016
As results from municipal elections continue to come in to the IEC National Results Center in Pretoria, an unprecedented 14 million votes have been cast in favour of the African National Congress (ANC) in this election.
This translates to 54% of the national vote, and dramatically exceeds numbers recorded in the previous municipal election. In 2011, the ANC secured 8.1 million votes.
This statement was also made by the Deputy President on SABC3 on Friday, 5 August at approximately 14h00 in which he stated that 15 million South Africans voted for the ANC in 2016 compared to 8 million in 2011.
This statement is extremely misleading and false and needs to be rectified as soon as possible to set the record straight.
Please refer to the two attachments - 2011 LGE Results and 2016 LGE Results. In 2011, the ANC secured 8.1 million WARD votes + 8.4 million PR votes which totalled 16.5 million votes. The ANC actually LOST support in 2016 in that it secured 7.9 million WARD votes + 8.1 million PR votes which totalled 16.1 million votes. THIS IS CLEARLY NOT AN INCREASE AS CLAIMED BY THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT AND THE ANC. In fact, it shows a decrease of around 400,000 votes (16.5 - 16.1 million).
The statement is clearly misleading and deceptive in that only the figure for the WARD votes in 2011 was stated but the figure for the TOTAL votes (WARD + PR) was stated for 2016. This implies that the ANC DOUBLED its support which is clearly not the case. If this were so, why did the ANC lose 8.44 percent nationally and lost support in every province except for a marginal increase in KZN?
The Deputy President actually stated that 15 million South Africans voted for the ANC compared to 8.1 million in 2011. This is ludicrous in that the voter turnout was just under 58%. If you do the maths correctly, this would imply that every single person voted for the ANC since 15 million out of 26,3 million registered voters is 57%. According to your statements, only 1% of voters voted for all other parties.
The Democratic Alliance actually increased its support in that it secured 4 million WARD votes + 4 million PR votes (over 8 million votes) compared to 3.1 million WARD votes + 3.2 million PR votes (6.3 million votes) in 2011. This dramatically exceeds numbers recorded in the previous Local Government Elections.
Yours faithfully,
Shane Opperman
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Many more vote ANC in 2016 than ever before
05 August 2016
As results from municipal elections continue to come in to the IEC National Results Center in Pretoria, an unprecedented 14 million votes have been cast in favour of the African National Congress (ANC) in this election.
This translates to 54% of the national vote, and dramatically exceeds numbers recorded in the previous municipal election. In 2011, the ANC secured 8.1 million votes.
This statement was also made by the Deputy President on SABC3 on Friday, 5 August at approximately 14h00 in which he stated that 15 million South Africans voted for the ANC in 2016 compared to 8 million in 2011.
This statement is extremely misleading and false and needs to be rectified as soon as possible to set the record straight.
The statement is clearly misleading and deceptive in that only the figure for the WARD votes in 2011 was stated but the figure for the TOTAL votes (WARD + PR) was stated for 2016. This implies that the ANC DOUBLED its support which is clearly not the case. If this were so, why did the ANC lose 8.44 percent nationally and lost support in every province except for a marginal increase in KZN?
The Deputy President actually stated that 15 million South Africans voted for the ANC compared to 8.1 million in 2011. This is ludicrous in that the voter turnout was just under 58%. If you do the maths correctly, this would imply that every single person voted for the ANC since 15 million out of 26,3 million registered voters is 57%. According to your statements, only 1% of voters voted for all other parties.
The Democratic Alliance actually increased its support in that it secured 4 million WARD votes + 4 million PR votes (over 8 million votes) compared to 3.1 million WARD votes + 3.2 million PR votes (6.3 million votes) in 2011. This dramatically exceeds numbers recorded in the previous Local Government Elections.
Yours faithfully,
Shane Opperman
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;">2011 LGE Results
#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;">2016 LGE Results
Source - Shane Opperman
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