South Africa: pivotal elections

Written by David Fletcher 09 May 2019
South Africa: pivotal elections

Twenty-five years ago, under Nelson Mandela, the African National Congress (ANC) party ended apartheid, but since then it has governed poorly. Four in ten South Africans still live in poverty. Half of young people are unemployed, in an unequal society caused by corruption at all government levels. Seven out of ten South Africans don't trust politicians and many under-30s did not bother to vote in the 8 May elections. At the time of writing, ballot results are trickling in with the results expected on 11 May. The weakness of its challengers means that the ANC is expected to win again, but national projections show a drop in support of 8%. Recently the ANC replaced President Zuma with his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who is attempting to recover stolen state funds. So far he has been unable to remove the deeply entrenched crony networks of corrupt local officials and power brokers who deliver many votes for ANC. See also the previous article, and

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