Soweto (South Africa) (AFP) - South Africa's ruling ANC swept aside a weak economy, fierce criticism of its president and questions about the party's future at a massive Soweto rally on Sunday, in a pre-election show of force.
The party has won every general election by a landslide since South Africa become a full democracy in 1994.
Bikers, DJs and marching bands stired up the yellow-clad crowd to cries of "viva, ANC, viva!", offering no hint of the turbulence the party has suffered during President Jacob Zuma's nearly five-year stewardship.
Corruption scandals, poor public services, a cratering economy and the use of $23 million of taxpayer funds to upgrade Zuma's private home have, for many South Africans, sullied the party's revolutionary zeal.
Former stalwarts like Ronnie Kasrils have gone so far as to publicly ask voters not to back the party that delivered them from Apartheid.
But that legacy, for now, still looks set to be enough to hand the ANC another thumping electoral victory.
Zuma himself entered the stadium to the sound of a military drumroll and cheers, avoiding a repeat of the humiliating boos he suffered in the same stadium during Nelson Mandela's memorial service in December.
But this was a day for party not president.
- 'Rule for 100 years' -
"Twenty years has not been enough to achieve all we want," said 50-year old party activist Nomonde Klaas.
"We hope to rule for 100 years, to fully bring freedom."
The ANC is expected to garner 63 percent of the vote, according to the latest Ipsos poll, just three points less than in 2009.
The still-weak opposition and low predicted turn out are likely to play to the ANC's unparallelled ground operations and help mask otherwise disappointing results for the party.
It is expected to see its share of the vote fall for a second consecutive election.
Meanwhile the opposition Democratic Alliance, which has painted today's ANC as unfit to bear the name, is predicted increase its share of the vote by nearly six percentage points to 22 percent.
It is predicted to do well in Gauteng -- which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria -- and the Northern Cape, in addition to the Western Cape, which it already runs at provincial level.
Seventy-two year old president Zuma is also touted to get a second five-year term, his last under South Africa's constitution.
But he risks becoming a lame duck in a party that taps into its revolutionary roots to appear publicly unified, but which behind the scenes is facing internal discord.
South Africa sees an estimated 30 demonstrations a day against appalling public services, with many citizens furious that 20 years of majority ANC rule have not improved their lot.
With the election outcome seen by many as a foregone conclusion, analysts say business -- rattled by strikes, a weakened rand and unsustainable levels of unemployment -- will hope that the ANC's margin of victory is reduced.
"A lower-than-expected majority for the ANC would probably be regarded positively by markets, as it may jolt the party into reforming itself internally over the coming years," said Shilan Shah, an economist with Capital Economics.
By Andrew Beatty
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