When the results of the August 2016 local elections were announced ANC NEC member Fikile Mbalula grabbed his phone and sent out an angry tweet. In the flavoursome, hyperbolic and combative language he is fond of employing, Mbalula wrote: “The white racist political party DA must not claim easy victory the majority of our pple did not turn up. Simple check the stats you will see.” (sic)

Mbalula was wrong and he was right. Voters had actually turned up in huge numbers for the 2016 elections compared to previous local elections. More than a million-and-a-half more voters went to the polls in August 2016 for the local elections than in 2011. A total of 15.296,746 South Africans voted that week, an increase of 1.631,832 compared to the 2011 election...