During the heyday of National Party rule it was said that its loyal supporters would vote for a broomstick if it was the NP candidate. Many mediocre NP candidates won against better qualified opposition candidates. They were known as "Broomstick Nats".
When I canvassed for the Progressive Federal Party, some Afrikaners said they liked PFP policies but would still vote NP. The NP had so identified itself with Afrikaner identity that it was a betrayal to vote for anything else.
"The tribe had spoken" and other issues were secondary. Those Afrikaners who broke away publicly were ostracized. You could usually predict a constituency election by the language breakdown of voters.
Race has been a similar determining factor in elections since 1994. The belief that its supporters are largely "locked-in" fuels the arrogance of the ANC, just as it did the NP. Is there another political party in the world that would refuse to publicise its mayoral candidates?
It's an amazing contempt for the voters. You can't even be sure that an ANC mayor will be on the published list of candidates.
After the last local government elections the ANC deftly deployed Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa to be Tshwane mayor. It seemed that even she was surprised by this move.