Jean-Jacques Cornish

ANC says their support is rock solid

The ruling ANC insists that last Wednesday’s election results shows the party still has the solid backing of the South Africa’s voters.

The party won 62.2 percent of the vote, more than three percentage points lower than in the previous election five years ago.

In the heartland province of Gauteng its lead was cut more than ten percent to 53 percent.ends intro

Celebrating the ANC’s election victory, President Jacob Zuma laughed at the media calling the party that won in excess of 63 percent of the popular votes losers while those winning 22 percent and 6 percent are described as winners.

He was referring to the Democratic Alliance and the new Economic Freedom Fighters of Julius Malema respectively.

 

Malusi Gigaba, who headed up the ANC campaign lashed the media for its critical reporting of government ahead of elections.

He says the party’s resigned to the fact the media doesn’t love it. The important thing is the electorate once again demonstrated that it still does.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe says the outcome of last Wednesday’s election shows support for his party is still rock solid.

He maintains thThe people of South Africa have once again given the ANC  an overwhelming mandate  to continue with the work it started twenty years ago when it won power in in the country’s first democratic election.

 

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Jean-Jacques Cornish is a journalist and broadcaster who has been involved in the media all his adult life.

Starting as a reporter on his hometown newspaper, he moved briefly to then Rhodesia before returning to South Africa to become a parliamentary correspondent with the South African Press Association. He was sent to London as Sapa’s London editor and also served as special correspondent to the United Nations. He joined the then Argus group in London as political correspondent.

Returning to South Africa after 12 years abroad, he was assistant editor on the Pretoria News for a decade before becoming editor of the Star and SA Times for five years.

Since 1999 he’s been an independent journalist writing and broadcasting – mainly about Africa – for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape
Talk, Radio France International, PressTV, Radio Live New Zealand, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, the BBC, Agence France Press,
Business in Africa, Leadership, India Today, the South African Institute for International Affairs and the Institute for Security Studies.

He has hosted current affairs talk shows on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk. He appears as an African affairs pundit on SABC Africa and CNBC Africa.
He lectured in contemporary studies to journalism students at the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.

He speaks on African affairs to corporate and other audiences.
He has been officially invited as a journalist to more than 30 countries. He was the winner of the 2007 SADC award for radio journalism.

He’s been a member of the EISA team observing elections in Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunsiai.

In October 2009 he headed a group of 39 African journalists to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

In January 2010 he joined a rescue and paramedical team to earthquake struck Haiti.

He is immediate past president of the Alliance Francaise of Pretoria.

Jean-Jacques is a director of Giant Media. The company was given access to Nelson Mandela in his retirement years until 2009.
He is co-producer of the hour-long documentary Mandela at 90 that was broadcast on BBC in January 2009.