They say you get the government you deserve. But hell, the ANC got the opposition it really needs to remain in power. It has a tjatjarag Democratic Alliance (DA) barking away all the time, and a sprinkling of small-anyana minority parties, whose leaders don’t know if they are coming or going.

I have been in Cape Town for the opening of parliament, the President’s speech and other debates this week.

Gee, what a circus! In between all that seriousness and official announcements have been moments of what has become typical childish behaviour on the part of the honourable MPs. From heckling each other, to downright foolishness.

On Wednesday, Mncwango, of the IFP stole the cake. He praised his boss, IFP president for life Mangosuthu Buthelezi for this and that. Mncwango’s speech – during the debate on the State of the Nation Address, was all about how great Prince Buthelezi is.

According to Mncwango, Buthelezi’s intervention led to the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison. Buthelezi negotiated with the Nats for Mandela to be released, Mncwango claimed. In fact, Mncango performed an embarrassing act of praise singing, presenting Buthelezi as the golden leader he is not.

Buthelezi should have done the right thing: got up on a point of order or correction, and told Mncwango to stop telling lies.

From where I am sitting, in the press gallery, Buthelezi, more like Robert Mugabe, is leading his party to the ground. From running the KwaZulu-Natal government a decade ago, the IFP is now on its death bird, with less than 2% aggregate representation across the municipal landscape. And for as long as Prince Buthelezi has blind disciples like Mncwango, his party is not going to grow. The IFP is just a shell, waiting for the final death bell.

Only one thing will help revive it: if the ANC treats Jacob Zuma badly.

The ANC has been growing in KZN at the expense of the IFP, since JZ became president of the ANC. Buthelezi’s appeal to the KZN voters cannot match JZ’s, hence the ANC is doing well in that province- and the IFP not so well. The National Freedom Party- which broke away from the IFP a year ago, is doing much better that the dying IFP.

The IFP is not alone. There are other geriatrics in our parliament. The Pan African Congress is also facing a similar feat as the IFP.

Its leader and MP, Letlapa Mphahlele, suspended his party’s constitution last week- an event that makes him rule by decree. That makes him bigger than the party itself.

What these old style leaders forget is that the 2014 election is around the corner. They need 50 000 votes to retain each seat they currently have in Parliament. Cope, PAC, IFP, Themba Godi’s AFP and the UDM, will find it difficult to retain all the seats they have.

For as long as these parties don’t effectively use the platforms they have, and the moola, and the muffins in Parliament, their future is in the past: in the trenches, far far away from the august House.

They are missing the trends in our electoral system. There is an emergence of a two party system: a strong ANC, and a rising DA.

Tags: #ANC, #DA, #IFP, #Letlapa Mphahlele, #PAC, #parliament