University of South Africa (Unisa) governance specialist Dumisani Hlophe said on Thursday that there should be no worry that the African National Congress would lose power in 2019 because it had never controlled the country’s political game.

Addressing the Sowetan Dialogues‚ Hlophe said that during the Codes negotiations‚ apartheid leaders had made sure that they would control certain areas of the country‚ helping to retain the then economic social construct. An example was the agreement not to redistribute land.

“By retaining the property clause‚ it basically means redistribution is out of the picture. You can’t redistribute land‚ minerals and those kind of issues‚” Hlope said.

“The second issue is that they retained the control of the minister of finance which is an important ministry for the developmental state. But the current political leadership elite does not have control of that. This is why we change ministers and within three days we change [again].

“It is because we do not have control of that ministry. Even the first minister of finance was a white guy that did not even belong to the ANC‚ the ruling party. We also can’t touch the Reserve Bank‚” Hlophe said during the dialogue held at Unisa in Pretoria.

Participants are discussing on whether the outcomes of the August 3 elections are an indicator that the ANC will lose power in the 2019 general elections.

Hlophe argued that post-apartheid‚ whites had been able to control the rules of the political game in South Africa.

“What the apartheid masters have been able to do‚ they have been able to determine the rules of the political game – during apartheid and... post-apartheid.

“The people who determine the political game are more than likely to determine the outcome of that game. Where is this political power that you are worried about that the ANC must lose in 2019. We are worried about a non-starter. Regardless of the outcomes of the 2019 elections‚ it will be business as usual‚” Hlophe said.

— TMG Digital