2024 General Election: Ace Magashule Ends ACT Campaign With a Whimper

• Ace Magashule and his ACT party appear to have crashed spectacularly in the 2024 General Election
• The newly formed party promised to contest the ANC in their stronghold of the Free State but failed to make any waves
• A Stellenbosch professor has shared some insights on what caused this poor voter turnout for the party

FREE STATE - There was no encore for Ace Magashule's ACT as they displayed a poor showing in their home province of the Free State. The newly established party failed to make a significant mark in its first election outing. But what could the reason be?

Briefly News spoke to Professor Zwelinzima Ndevu of the School of Governance in Stellenbosch University to get more insight. The professor said that he was not surprised that Ace Magashule has made no impact in the Free State.

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"While he was popular, he was popular within the ANC. His popularity base was actually based in his hometown and not province-wide, and that is why we have seen that there is no real impact that he has made."

Professor Ndevu added:

"I think he thought very highly of himself. He thought that he has got influence beyond his hometown and this is not the case."

He went on to say that the results reflect that Magashule did relatively well in Parys, which is his hometown.

"But if you look at the province, he did not do so well."

Ndevu added that Magashule did not offer any tangible alternative and no tangible programme of action.

As it stands, according to the IEC, the ACT party accumulated less than 2% of the votes in the Free State. In light of this, the party's planned collaboration with the MKP appears to have been overly hopeful too.

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Gwede Mantashe blames media for ANC decline

Meanwhile, the grass is not greener at Ace Magashule's former political home. Briefly News reported that in early KZN election results, the MK Party led by Jacob Zuma is ahead with over 40% of the vote, while the ANC is second.

ANC Chairperson Gwede Mantashe, surprised by MK's performance, blamed journalists for the ANC's decline and vowed to counter the MK threat. The outcome remains to be seen as vote counting continues.

Source: Briefly News