Quote Originally Posted by Douglas Lees View Post
Is there an opposition party that is not extreme or purely opportunistic that has the potential to grow and become a serious political player?
There are parties that are not extreme and/or purely opportunistic. Unfortunately their ability to become a serious political player is undone by the dominance and "universal church" mythology of the ANC brand. A splinter group of the ANC called COPE theoretically should have mustered some reasonable support given the profile of leadership positions they had held in the ANC when they broke away. It became evident pretty quickly that the vast majority of ANC voters were not supporting individual leaders and what they stood for, but rather voting pretty blindly for the party.

For clarity, there are some who are discerning, but nowhere near enough in these parts to make an impact.
And then there's the challenge that you have to be pretty extreme to stand out from the crowd as an individual anyway. Moderates are dime a dozen and even the ones who make absolute sense don't attract as much limelight as the controversial characters.

Brand loyalty is huge in these parts.
(I know this is true in many parts of the UK too).