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MARCO WERMAN: I'm Marco Werman and this is The World. South Africans head to the polls in two days. The ruling party -- the African National Congress -- got a big boost yesterday at its final rally. Former president Nelson Mandela made a surprise appearance in support of the party he helped build. The ANC has led South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. And it's expected to retain power in this election. But there's been increasing criticism of the ANC and its current leader, Jacob Zuma. And in one province -- the Western Cape -- the ANC may actually lose. Rhoda Metcare reports from Cape Town.

RHODA METCARE: Outside a political youth forum, at the University of Stellenbosch, two rival groups of black students are lined up, trying to drown each other out with campaign songs and angry taunts. This would have been a strange sight even a year ago, when virtually all black voters in this region -- and most of South Africa -- were loyal to the ruling party, the ANC. But six months ago, after a messy internal power struggle, the ANC split. And a breakaway party, called the Congress of the People, or COPE, was born. For years, the ANC was almost sacrosanct to black voters, because it was the party that liberated them from apartheid. But the political split has opened debate, allowing especially black voters the freedom to question the ANC—its lackluster delivery of health and education, its corruption cases, and its controversial new leader. Jacob Zuma is a man with little education, and 4 wives. He's also faced charges of rape and numerous charges of fraud, though never convicted. Inside the political youth forum, a young black student expresses the frustration that many voters feel.

YOUNG WOMAN: I realize that Mr. Zuma has not been found guilty of these charges, but I want to ask the ANC leader... How do you come here and expect us students to vote for a man who's been accused of rape and fraud charges?

METCARE: The scandals and disaffections in the ANC have enlivened the elections, but polls predict they won't have much impact on overall voting, except in the Western Cape. Political analyst Adrian Hadland explains that the rural poor make up the backbone of ANC supporters in most of South Africa.

ADRIAN HADLAND: And they're not really impacted by the latest political nuances and shenanigans. They're more interested in the history and tradition of the party that's represented them for such a long period. That's less the case in the Western Cape where people are more attuned to what's happening.

METCARE: Voters in the Western Cape are also better educated and they're a real mix of races. Blacks and whites are minorities. Half the population here is what's known as "coloured" -- people of mixed race. The ANC has always struggled to win over this region; in this election, more than ever. In a last-minute scramble before elections, ANC campaigners descended this week on Mitchell's Plain, a coloured township in Cape Town. This neighborhood's become a stronghold of the opposition party, the DA, Democratic Alliance. The DA has historically been a party of white voters, but it's gaining coloured support and rising in the poll, thanks in large part to its leader Helen Zille, he popular white mayor of Cape Town. Zille's run an efficient, clean government and often visits the coloured neighborhoods to join in their celebrations and their protests. Says one Mitchell's Plain resident:

WOMAN: She's just one of the most dedicated ladies. If you can say to Helen Zille, and say, Ms. Zille, we need you now, she will be there. She's a lady who is dedicating herself 24/7 while others are like sleeping, you know?
METCARE: The ANC campaigners came here to woo voters away from the DA with one old school idea. Thandi Mahambihlale, an ANC youth leader, says the people cannot not trust the Democratic Alliance because its leaders are white.

THANDI MAHAMBIHALE: It is only the ANC that has a capacity to better the lives of our people. It can never be Democratic Alliance. They will remain counter-revolutionaries. They will remain oppressors even today because they are continued to oppress our people and Helen Zille has shown that here in this area.

METCARE: But that old revolutionary language from the apartheid struggle has little appeal here in the Western Cape. For many voters, it shows the ANC is still stuck in its militant past, while parties like the DA and COPE are moving on. And if the polls are right, voters here are ready to move on with them, showing that in one corner of South Africa at least, voters have lost faith in the ANC. For the World, I'm Rhoda Metcalfe in Cape Town.

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