It's often said that the problem with political jokes is that they sometimes get elected. In Canada's recent elections a candidate won a Quebec constituency without even visiting it.

She lives 300 km away, speaks little French and spent part of the election on holiday in Las Vegas. She won because Quebec voters switched en masse to the New Democratic Party. The separatist Bloc Québécois party plunged from 47 seats to only four.

Not so long ago the Canadian Liberal Party was in government, but it ran third nationally behind the NDP. Voters surprised the pundits by giving the Conservative party a majority while reshaping the opposition completely.

Canadian politicians have reason to fear voters. A previous Conservative government was reduced to only two seats after an election.

It's healthy for democracy when voters feel free to change parties. In our elections it's been fascinating watching the ANC as it realises it can no longer take its supporters for granted.

President Jacob Zuma has tried to quell dissent over candidates by saying this can be fixed after the elections. This is laughable and indicates a certain desperation as communities threaten to abstain or vote for other candidates.

The other approach has been to admit that delivery has not happened but that a vote for any other party is wasted. The self-criticism is sometimes severe.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said that the ANC had "failed the masses" and people had been "victims of broken promises". But she still urges an ANC vote.

In the ANC's version of democracy you have a free choice to vote for any party - so long as it is the ANC. Since the ANC is unable to campaign on the issues it resorts to whipping up racial resentments.

It reminds me of old National Party "smear and scare" tactics. In the 1987 election there were NP posters that screamed "Over my dead body will I vote ANC, so why vote PFP?" The pro-Nat press splashed a photograph of Helen Suzman with Winnie Mandela. The caption was Winnie's statement "With our matchboxes and our necklaces we will liberate our country".

Now we have issues that the ANC has manufactured to use against the DA. A bust of Verwoerd in Midvaal suddenly becomes a symbol that the DA has not turned its back on apartheid. Never mind that it was there when the ANC ruled Midvaal. Or that colonial-era statues are all over the place in ANC-run municipalities.

The DA is assailed for 51 uncovered toilets in Cape Town, but 1600 toilets in the ANC-run Moqhaka municipality in the Free State have been uncovered for years. A self-confident party would run on its record of achievements rather than hypocrisy and crude distortions. And it wouldn't hide its candidates from the media.

ANC Gauteng spokesman Dumisa Ntuli says: "We don't want any of our candidates to talk to the media at this time in case of negative publicity". This is worse than pathetic. I strongly sense that 18 May will show that a tipping point has come in our politics. Appeals to history and racial identity are failing. The people are tired of waiting for delivery, and will vote for those they believe will best provide it.

Jack Bloom MPL, is DA Leader in the Gauteng Legislature. This article first appeared in The Citizen.

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