With political parties finding it ever harder to attract trust from South Africans ahead of next year's polls, there's an emerging trend of the more panicky among them turning to the predictable safety of populist policies.

In particular, it appears that, amid desperate attempts to retain power, the ANC is now trying to use measures it's never used before. It is not difficult to see how this fatal attraction to populism will only grow in the next few months. However, there are limits to how far populist measures can really go in South Africa, if only because many voters are now too disillusioned for them to work.

There can be no doubt as to the disastrous long-term impact populist promises can have. Even now, some activists in Soweto base their demands for free electricity on what they say were promises made by ANC leaders in 1993, showing the election sloganeering's immensely damaging long tail effect.

Last week, the ANC in Ekurhuleni promised to support a budget proposed by the EFF, but only if it agreed to write off the arrears of residents who owe billions for electricity. It would essentially mean the metro would lose out on R20-billion that is currently owed, a seriously damaging, even if popular, demand to make.

Last year, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi suggested he would support a similar write-off for money owed by Soweto residents to Eskom.

This year, he...