DA leader John Steenhuisen was appointed Minister of agriculture.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa named a new Cabinet late Sunday night (June 30) after his African National Congress (ANC), the former main Opposition party and nine other parties agreed on the makeup of a coalition government following weeks of haggling.

Mr. Ramaphosa’s party retained the largest share of Ministerial positions as he appointed ANC officials to 20 of the 32 Cabinet Minister roles in the new coalition. But there were six Ministers from the Democratic Alliance (DA), once the main Opposition and the fiercest critic of the ANC, and Mr. Ramaphosa shared the remaining Ministerial posts among some of the smaller parties.

Also read: ​A new era: on the South Africa general election

Mr. Ramaphosa’s announcement of his new, multi-party Cabinet came a month after the ANC lost its 30-year political dominance of Africa’s most industrialised country in a national election, forcing it to seek coalition partners. The ANC’s share of the vote slumped to 40% in the May 29 vote and it lost its Parliamentary majority for the first time since it came to power at the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994. The DA won the second largest share of the vote with 21%.

Others have also joined what the ANC called a government of national unity that is open to any of the 18 parties represented in Parliament. Some have refused to take part.

The power-sharing coalition is unprecedented for South Africa. The country briefly had a coalition government at the end of apartheid, but that was under different circumstances. The ANC held a clear majority then after the first all-race election, but new President Nelson Mandela invited others into his government in an act of reconciliation.

This time, the ANC needed the help of lawmakers from the DA and other parties to reelect Mr. Ramaphosa for a second term.

South Africans deserted the ANC in the landmark national election amid frustration over poverty and some of the highest rates of inequality and unemployment in the world, and Mr. Ramaphosa said on June 30 that those issues would be priorities for the coalition government.

While there are 11 parties in the coalition, the ANC and the DA — which were ruling party and main Opposition for years — are the two largest and the key players. Talks between them have been tense and drawn out and the DA was reportedly on the verge of walking away from a power-sharing agreement until a meeting between Mr. Ramaphosa and DA leader John Steenhuisen on Friday.

“We have shown that there are no problems that are too difficult or too intractable that they cannot be solved through dialogue,” Mr. Ramaphosa said, noting the negotiations had been complex.

In some of his most significant Cabinet decisions, Mr. Ramaphosa reappointed Paul Mashatile of the ANC to continue as his deputy president. Mr. Ramaphosa also appointed Parks Tau of the ANC as the Minister of trade and industry, an important portfolio that the DA was seeking and was at the heart of some of the tensions between the two parties.

DA leader Steenhuisen was appointed Minister of agriculture, while Mr. Ramaphosa also brought the leaders of four other political parties into his Cabinet as new Ministers.

“We have had to ensure that all the parties are able to participate meaningfully in the national executive,” Mr. Ramaphosa said.

South African Président Cyril Ramaphosa, right, greets opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, John Steenhuisen, left, at the first sitting of Parliament since elections, in Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, June 14, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

In a country where racial segregation was once brutally enforced, South Africa’s new coalition government has brought a Black president and a white opposition leader together in an image of unity. Yet the power-sharing agreement sealed a week ago between President Cyril Ramaphosa’s African National Congress party and the Democratic Alliance, one of South Africa’s few white-led parties, has unwittingly renewed some racial rifts.

Also read: ​A new era: on the South Africa general election

Many Black South Africans have expressed discomfort with a white-led party being back in power, even in a coalition. The country is haunted by the apartheid system of white minority rule that ended 30 years ago but is still felt by millions among the Black majority who were ruthlessly oppressed by a white government and remained affected by unresolved issues of poverty and inequality.

South Africa is now faced with the likelihood of seeing more white people in senior government positions than ever since apartheid ended. White people make up around 7% of the country’s population of 62 million.

The ANC liberated South Africa from apartheid in 1994 under Nelson Mandela, the country’s first Black president. Its three-decade political dominance ended in the landmark May 29 election, forcing it to form a coalition. The DA, with its roots in liberal white parties that stood against apartheid, won the second largest share of votes.

Both have promoted their coming together in a multi-party coalition as a new unity desperately needed in a country with vast socioeconomic problems.

But history lingers. The DA suspended one of its white lawmakers on Thursday, days after being sworn into Parliament, over racist slurs he made in a social media video more than a decade ago. Renaldo Gouws — reportedly a student in his 20s at the time — used an especially offensive term for Black people that was infamous during apartheid and is now considered hate speech.

Mr. Gouws faces disciplinary action from his party, and the South African Human Rights Commission said it will take him to court. The DA, which previously fended off allegations of favouring whites, is again under scrutiny.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions, an important political ally of the ANC, asserted that Mr. Gouws’ outburst was symptomatic of a DA that is “soft on racists.” The DA “needs to reflect on and address this if it wants to be accepted as a partner in the government of national unity by ordinary South Africans,” it said.

DA leader John Steenhuisen denied in a television interview that his party is dedicated only to white interests, saying it wouldn’t have won the second largest share of votes in a Black majority country if it was. The DA has Black and white lawmakers and supporters, but its only Black leader left the party in 2019, questioning its commitment to Black South Africans.

Political analyst Angelo Fick said the DA does have a “sense of whiteness” in the eyes of many South Africans and has created that by being “utterly disinterested in speaking to the concerns about race from Black South Africans.”

Shortly before Mr. Gouws’ case, racially charged language came from another direction when the MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma — once an ANC leader — called Mr. Ramaphosa a “house negro” for entering into the agreement with the DA. Mr. Zuma’s party also referred to white DA chairperson Helen Zille as Mr. Ramaphosa’s “slave master.”

Socioeconomic frustration

The MK Party and the Economic Freedom Fighters — the third and fourth biggest parties in Parliament — have refused to join what the ANC calls a government of national unity open to all. They said the fundamental reason is the DA, which they say is committed only to the well-being of South Africa’s white minority.

“We do not agree to this marriage of convenience to consolidate the white monopoly power over the economy,” EFF leader Julius Malema said. Mr. Malema has sometimes provoked racial tensions demanding change, once saying, “We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people, at least for now,” and that South Africa’s “white man has been too comfortable for too long.”

He now says his party is not against white people but against a perceived “white privilege” that leaves 64% of Black people in poverty compared with 1% of white people, according to a 2021 report by the South African Human Rights Commission.

He represents a new opposition to the ANC by many Black South Africans frustrated over the race-based inequality that’s evident after 30 years of freedom. White people generally live in posh neighbourhoods, while millions of Black people live in impoverished townships on the outskirts.

That frustration led many voters to give up on the ANC. The concerns about teaming up with the DA could weaken the party even further.

Addressing the ‘toxic’ divisions

In his inauguration speech Wednesday, Mr. Ramaphosa recognised the “toxic” divisions that remain decades after Mandela preached racial reconciliation. “Our society remains deeply unequal and highly polarized,” Ramaphosa said.

The ANC is trying to use the coalition as a kind of reboot of Mandela’s ideals. “To us, it doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white,” ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said of the agreement with the DA. Mandela had used the phrase to signal he was open to all races serving in South Africa’s government. “Fundamentally,” Mbalula said, “the question is how do we move the country forward.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was reelected by lawmakers for a second term on June 14, after his party struck a dramatic late coalition deal with a former political foe just hours before the vote.

Mr. Ramaphosa, the leader of the African National Congress, won convincingly in Parliament against a surprise candidate who was also nominated — Julius Malema of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters. Mr. Ramaphosa received 283 votes to Malema’s 44 in the 400-member house.

The 71-year-old Mr. Ramaphosa secured his second term with the help of lawmakers from the country’s second-biggest party, the Democratic Alliance, and some smaller parties. They backed him in the vote and got him over the finish line following the ANC’s loss of its long-held majority in a landmark election two weeks ago that reduced it to 159 seats in Parliament.

During a break in what turned out to be a marathon parliamentary session, the ANC signed the last-minute agreement with the DA, effectively ensuring Mr. Ramaphosa stayed on as the leader of Africa’s most industrialized economy. The parties will now co-govern South Africa in its first national coalition where no party has a majority in Parliament.

The deal, referred to as a government of national unity, brings the ANC together with the DA, a white-led party that had for years been the main opposition and the fiercest critic of the ANC. At least two other smaller parties also joined the agreement.

Mr. Ramaphose called the deal — which sent South Africa into uncharted waters — a “new birth, a new era for our country” and said it was time for parties “to overcome their differences and to work together.”

“This is what we shall do and this is what I am committed to achieve as the President,” he said.

The ANC — the famed party of Nelson Mandela — had ruled South Africa with a comfortable majority since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994.

But it lost its 30-year majority in the humbling national election on May 29, a turning point for the country. The vote was held against the backdrop of widespread discontent from South Africans over high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment.

Analysts warn there might be complications ahead, though, given the starkly different ideologies of the ANC, a former liberation movement, and the centrist, business-friendly DA, which won 21% of the vote in the national election, the second largest share behind the ANC’s 40%.

For one, the DA disagreed with the ANC government’s move to accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza in a highly sensitive case at the United Nations’ top court.

The DA leader John Steenhuisen was the first to confirm the agreement.

“From today, the DA will co-govern the Republic of South Africa in a spirit of unity and collaboration,” he said as he stepped away from Friday’s proceedings for a speech carried live on television in which he said a deal was signed and that the DA lawmakers would vote for Mr. Ramaphosa for President.

The Parliament session started at 10 a.m. in the unusual setting of a conference center near Cape Town’s waterfront, after the city’s historic National Assembly building was gutted in a fire in 2022. The house first went through the hourslong swearing-in of hundreds of new lawmakers and electing a speaker and a deputy speaker.

The vote for president started late at night, with the results announced well after 10 p.m. Mr. Ramaphosa finished his acceptance speech as the clock ticked past midnight and into June 15.

Former President Jacob Zuma’s MK Party boycotted the session but that did not affect the voting as only a third of the house is needed for a quorum.

ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said the party was open to talking with anyone else who wanted to join the unity government. There are 18 political parties represented in Parliament and he said the multi-party agreement would “prioritize the country across the political and ideological divide.”

Some parties, including Mr. Malema’s EFF, refused to join.

The two other parties that joined the coalition deal were the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Patriotic Alliance, which has drawn attention partly because its leader, Gayton McKenzie, served a prison sentence for bank robbery.

Mr. McKenzie said he had been given a second chance in life and that South Africa also had one now, a chance to solve its deep socioeconomic problems.

The ANC had faced a deadline to strike a coalition agreement as Parliament had to vote for the president within 14 days after election results were declared on June 2. The ANC had been trying to strike a coalition agreement for two weeks and the final negotiations went on overnight June 13 to June 14, party officials said.

South Africa has not faced that level of political uncertainty since the ANC swept to power in the 1994 first all-race election that ended nearly a half-century of racial segregation. Since then, every South African leader has come from the ANC, starting with Mandela.

The new unity government also harked back to the way Mandela, South Africa’s first Black president, invited political opponents to be part of a unity government in 1994 in an act of reconciliation when the ANC had a majority. Ramaphosa had played a key role in those negotiations as a young politician.

This time, the ANC’s hand was forced.

“The ANC has been very magnanimous in that they have accepted defeat and have said, ‘let’s talk’,” PA leader Mr. McKenzie said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa . File
| Photo Credit: REuters

The leader of South Africa’s second biggest party says it will back Cyril Ramaphosa for president, almost guaranteeing he will be re-elected for a second term in Parliament later on June 14.

Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen says his party has formally signed a coalition agreement with Mr. Ramaphosa’s African National Congress, and part of the agreement is Mr. Ramaphosa will be president.

Lawmakers are due to elect a president later on today and the ANC and DA together have a majority of lawmakers that would see Mr. Ramaphosa return for a second term. If Mr. Ramaphosa is the only candidate nominated, he would be elected automatically without the need for a vote.

MK Party supporters dance in the middle of the street in Mahlbnathini village in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, on May 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

The African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result Saturday that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago.

With nearly 99% of votes counted, the once-dominant ANC had received just over 40% in the election on Wednesday, well short of the majority it had held since the famed all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela. The final results are still to be formally declared by the independent electoral commission that ran the election.

While opposition parties hailed it as a momentous breakthrough for a country struggling with deep poverty and inequality, the ANC remained the biggest party by some way but will now need to look for a coalition partner or partners to remain in the government and reelect President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second and final term. Parliament elects the South African president after national elections.

The result ended the ANC’s dominance three-decade dominance of South Africa’s young democracy, but the way forward promises to be complicated for Africa’s most advanced economy, and there’s no coalition on the table yet.

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, was on around 21%. The new MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma, who has turned against the ANC he once led, came third with just over 14% of the vote in the first election it has contested.

Also read | Why was Jacob Zuma disallowed from contesting elections in South Africa: Explained

Which parties the ANC might approach to co-govern with is the urgent focus now, given Parliament needs to sit and elect a president within 14 days of the final election results being officially declared. A flurry of negotiations were set to take place and they will likely be complicated.

The MK Party said one of their conditions for any agreement was that Ramaphosa is removed as ANC leader and president.

“We are willing to negotiate with the ANC, but not the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa,” MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela said.

More than 50 parties contested the national election, but given how far off a majority the ANC appears to be, it is likely that it will have to approach one of the three main opposition parties.

Also read: African National Congress | A party in decline

MK and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters have called for parts of the economy to be nationalized. The centrist Democratic Alliance is viewed as a business-friendly party and analysts say an ANC-DA coalition would be more welcomed by foreign investors.

Despite the uncertainty, South African opposition parties were hailing the new political picture as a much-needed change for the country of 62 million, which is Africa’s most developed but also one of the most unequal in the world.

South Africa has widespread poverty and extremely high levels of unemployment and the ANC has struggled to raise the standard of living for millions. The official unemployment rate is 32%, one of the highest in the world, and the poverty disproportionately affects Black people, who make up 80% of the population and have been the core of the ANC’s support for years.

The ANC has also been blamed — and apparently punished by voters — for a failure in basic government services that impacts millions and leaves many without water, electricity or proper housing.

“We have said for the last 30 years that the way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC’s majority and we have done that,” Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said.

Nearly 28 million South Africans were registered to vote and turnout is expected to be around 60%, according to figures from the independent electoral commission that runs the election.

A child plays with her teddy bear as people cast their votes at a polling station on the Cape Flats during South African elections in Cape Town, South Africa, May 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The African National Congress appeared on course to lose the parliamentary majority it has held for 30 years, partial results from South Africa’s national election showed, in what would be the most dramatic political shift since the end of apartheid.

With results from 10% of polling stations, the ANC’s share of the vote on May 29th’s election stood at 42.3%, with the pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) at 26.3% and the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) at 8.1%, data from the electoral commission showed.

If the final results were to resemble the early picture, the ANC would be forced to make a deal with one or more other parties to govern— a situation that could lead to unprecedented political volatility in the coming weeks or months.

Under South Africa’s constitution, the newly elected National Assembly will elect the next president.

With the ANC still on course to be the largest party, its leader Cyril Ramaphosa is likely to remain as the country’s president, although a poor showing could make him vulnerable to a leadership challenge from within party ranks.

The ANC has won national elections held every five years since the landmark 1994 election, which marked the end of apartheid and the ascent of Nelson Mandela as President.

But since those heady days the ANC’s support has declined because of disillusionment over issues such as high unemployment and crime, frequent power blackouts and corruption.

The early results showed the ANC and the DA neck-and-neck on about 34% each in the key province of Gauteng, which includes the country’s business capital Johannesburg and the sprawling townships of Soweto and Alexandra.

The Zuma factor

In KwaZulu-Natal, a populous eastern province where the major city of Durban is located, a new party led by former President Jacob Zuma, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), was performing strongly, with 41.7% of the vote versus 20.1% for the ANC.

Zuma was forced to quit as President in 2018 after a string of scandals and has since fallen out with the ANC leadership, leading him to throw his weight behind MK. The party, named after the ANC’s armed wing from the apartheid era, appeared to be costing both the ANC and the EFF votes, especially in KwaZulu-Natal.

By law, the electoral commission has seven days to declare full results, but in practice it is usually faster than that. In the last election, in 2019, voting took place on May 29 like this year and final results came on May 31

The new Parliament must convene within 14 days of final results being declared and its first act must be to elect the nation’s President.

This means that if the ANC is confirmed to have lost its majority there could be two weeks of intense and complex negotiations to agree on how to form a new government.

South Africans voted on Wednesday at schools, community centres, and in large white tents set up in open fields in an election seen as their country’s most important in 30 years. It could put the young democracy in unknown territory.

At stake is the three-decade dominance of the African National Congress party, which led South Africa out of apartheid’s brutal white minority rule in 1994. It is now the target of a new generation of discontent in a country of 62 million people — half of whom are estimated to be living in poverty.

After casting his vote, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he had no doubt his ANC would win with a majority and remain in government.

Africa’s most advanced economy has some of the world’s deepest socioeconomic problems, including one of the worst unemployment rates at 32%. The lingering inequality, with poverty and joblessness disproportionately affecting the Black majority, threatens to unseat the party that promised to end it by bringing down apartheid under the slogan of a better life for all.

“Our main issue here in our community is the lack of jobs,” said Samuel Ratshalingwa, who was near the front of the queue at the same school in the Johannesburg township of Soweto where Ramaphosa voted.

“We have to use the vote to make our voices heard about this problem,” said Ratshalingwa, who came out before 7 a.m. on a chilly winter morning.

After winning six successive national elections, several polls have the ANC’s support at less than 50% ahead of this one, an unprecedented drop. It might lose its majority in Parliament for the first time, although it’s widely expected to hold the most seats.

The ANC won 57.5% of the vote in the last national election in 2019, its worst result to date and down from a high of nearly 70% of the vote 20 years ago.

Mr. Ramaphosa, the leader of the ANC, has promised to “do better.” The ANC has asked for more time and patience.

The 71-year-old Mr. Ramaphosa sat alongside other voters in Soweto, where he was born, before shaking hands with two smiling officials who registered him and then voting.

“I have no doubt whatsoever in my heart of hearts that the people will once again invest confidence in the African National Congress to continue to lead this country,” Mr. Ramaphosa said. He said he was certain South Africans would give the ANC “a firm majority.”

Any change in the ANC’s hold on power could be monumental for South Africa. If it does lose its majority, the ANC will likely face the prospect of having to form a coalition with others to stay in government and keep Ramaphosa as president for a second term. The ANC having to co-govern has never happened before.

South Africans vote for parties, not directly for their president. The parties then get seats in Parliament according to their share of the vote and those lawmakers elect the president after the election. The ANC has always had a majority in Parliament since 1994.

The election was to be held on one day across South Africa’s nine provinces, with nearly 28 million people registered to vote at more than 23,000 polling stations. Final results are expected by Sunday.

The opposition to the ANC in this election is fierce, but fragmented. The two biggest opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters, are not predicted to increase their vote by anything near enough to overtake the ANC. The DA is part of an agreement with other smaller parties to combine their vote in an effort to remove the ANC completely, but that’s not seen as likely.

Disgruntled South Africans are moving to an array of opposition parties; more than 50 will contest the national election, many of them new. One is led by South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma, who has turned against his former ANC allies. Mr. Zuma was disqualified from standing as a candidate for Parliament but his MK Party is still contesting and is the wild card.

The ANC says it is confident of retaining its majority and analysts have not ruled that out, given the party’s decades of experience in government and its unmatched grassroots campaigning machine. It still has wide support, especially among older voters and those in more rural areas.

“I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning, took a bath and made my way,” said 68-year-old Velaphi Banda, adding he has voted for the ANC since 1994 and would do so again. “I was never undecided about which party I will vote for. I have always known.”

Ramaphosa has pointed out how South Africa is a far better country now than under apartheid, when Black people were barred from voting, weren’t allowed to move around freely, had to live in certain areas and were oppressed in every way. This election is only South Africa’s seventh national vote in which people of all races are allowed to take part.

Memories of that era of apartheid, and the defining election that ended it in 1994, still frame much of everyday South Africa. But fewer remember it as time goes on, and this election might give voice to a younger generation who weren’t born when apartheid fell.

The vote will showcase the country’s contradictions, from the economic hub of Johannesburg — labelled Africa’s richest city — to the picturesque tourist destination of Cape Town, to the informal settlements of shacks in their outskirts.

There were delays in some polling stations opening, with voting due to start at 7 a.m. and end at 9 p.m. South Africa has held peaceful and credible elections since a violent buildup to the pivotal 1994 election. The independent electoral commission said two days of special early voting went smoothly on Monday and Tuesday, although two people were arrested for interfering with voting operations, it said.

South Africa will deploy nearly 3,000 soldiers across the country to ensure a peaceful election, authorities said.

While 80% of South Africans are Black, it’s a multiracial country with significant populations of white people, those of Indian descent, those with biracial heritage and others. There are 12 official languages.

It’s the diversity that Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first Black president, highlighted as a beautiful thing by referring to his country as a “Rainbow Nation.” It’s a diversity that, with the emergence of many new opposition parties, also might now be reflected in its politics.

Even as elections in India are drawing to a close, the citizens of yet another BRICS country and emerging economy are going to the polls on May 29. The largest country in GDP (nominal) terms in Africa, South Africa has been ruled for three decades by the party that was most associated with the anti-Apartheid struggle — the African National Congress (ANC).

Identified with leaders such as Nobel prize winning Nelson Mandela, who went on to become the first President of racially-integrated South Africa, the ANC has maintained its dominance as the party of governance in the country, so much so that political observers have termed the ANC’s rule in South Africa one of a dominant party presiding over a “party-state”.

The ANC today is helmed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, a businessman with a long association with the party, who served as chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly after the first democratic elections in South Africa following the end of Apartheid in 1994. Mr. Ramaphosa emerged as ANC president after a strongly contested leadership race against Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was supported by then president and widely derided to be a corrupt leader, Jacob Zuma. After the election, Mr. Zuma resigned following pressure from the party and Mr. Ramaphosa was elected unopposed as the President of South Africa by the National Assembly in February 2018.

Mr. Ramaphosa was seen by many as someone who could bring in change after Mr. Zuma’s controversial years. But his government, elected in May 2019 after winning 57.5% of the votes in the general election, had to tackle many economic challenges — the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic, the inherited weaknesses in the economy and the many failures of state-owned enterprises.

Also read: People of Indian descent seek to leave their mark in South African polls

As a party leader, he also had to confront a leadership that included heavyweights who were associated with Mr. Zuma. In July 2021, when Mr. Zuma refused to comply with a summons order from a Constitutional Court that was set up to inquire into allegations of “state capture” and “fraud” in the public sector during his tenure, he was sentenced to 15 months of imprisonment. Mr. Zuma went on to announce that he would be voting for the newly formed party, the uMkhonto we Sizwe (named after the armed organisation affiliated to the ANC during the anti-Apartheid struggle) in the 2024 elections despite being a lifelong member of the ANC.

Earlier, factional troubles in the ANC had also resulted in the formation of new parties such as the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) by former ANC Youth League leaders. The EFF, which won 10.8% of the vote in the 2019 elections, retains an ideological view that is closer to some of the radical sections of the ANC and believes in measures such as nationalisation of mines, banks and other industries and appeals to unemployed youth who are not seen as ANC supporters.

While the ANC is expected to retain its presence as the single largest party in the coming elections, its performance could be dented by concerns among South Africans about persisting poverty and rising inequality. The World Bank said in 2020 that 37.9% of the population is living at international poverty levels of $3.2 per person a day with 25% (13.8 million people) experiencing food poverty. The country’s Gini coefficient was 0.63 in its last measured value in 2014, showing widespread inequality.

Dampening enthusiasm

These concerns have already dampened voting enthusiasm among the ANC’s core Black voters. Voter turnout in South Africa among eligible voters fell from 85.53% in 1994 to 47.28% in 2019 after a steady decline election after election, according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). Dissatisfaction with the ANC’s performance has also led to disillusionment with democratic institutions itself with Afrobarometer in 2021 recording that only 40% of South Africans preferred democracy over non-democratic options.

The chief rival to the ANC in the South African party system remains the centrist Democratic Alliance, which has emphasised its opposition to what it calls the “state capture” of the ANC and its cadres and the reduction of the South African democratic system into a dominant one-party state. But it is largely seen as a party that represents the interests of the white minority and has been unable to expand its reach. Controversial views espoused by the DA’s leaders on the legacy of colonialism have only increased the suspicion among Black voters.

The core support base of the ANC, despite misgivings among its voters, remain those who have experienced racism during the Apartheid era and were aware of the ANC’s efforts during the struggle and many who still perceive the ANC as the only party capable of addressing the problems faced by the Black community in particular.

Formed in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress to press for rights of Black South Africans, it was renamed to its current appellation in 1923 and mostly functioned as an organisation devoted to getting legislation passed in favour of the community. But by the 1940s, with the influx of younger left-wing activists committed to mass mobilisation movements, trade union activity and resistance tactics, the ANC, under the leadership of Alfred Xuma, had become a major movement. In the 1950s, the ANC intensified its mass campaigns, which included strikes, boycotts and civil disobedience movements, and by 1955, it was a key signatory to the “Freedom Charter” that became vital to the anti-Apartheid struggle.

Tripartite Alliance

Other signatories included parties and organisations such as the South African Communist Party (SACP), the South African Indian Congress and trade unions. The SACP, along with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), remains aligned with the ANC as part of the Tripartite Alliance, which was forged in 1990 after the release of Nelson Mandela from prison.

Organisations aligned with the ANC such as the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK or Spear of the Nation) launched an armed struggle against Apartheid in the 1960s after the ANC itself was banned and its leadership went underground. Leaders like Mandela were arrested and remained in jail for nearly three decades. Negotiations by the Apartheid regime with the ANC to end the system and transit into multi-racial democracy began in the 1980s. After the release of Mandela and the lifting of the ban on the ANC in the early 1990s, an interim Constitution was ratified. The ANC clinched a thumping victory in the 1994 elections and Mandela became President.

Also read: Water cuts add to people’s frustration as South Africa prepares for general polls

Mandela’s government was widely popular and allowed for a peaceful transition of power. But with the party retaining a structure which is largely hierarchical that reverted to a culture of patronage on assuming power, degeneration set in over the years. Ineffective governance, economic woes and allegations of chronic corruption led to a sharp decline in the ANC’s popularity, especially during the Zuma regime, with the party winning 57.5% of the vote in the 2019 elections.

With Mr. Ramaphosa being seen as unable to stem the decline and relying only on incremental steps to bring change in the party, the ANC may have to rely upon other parties in South Africa’s proportional representation system to continue to stay in power.

Residents of the Blairgowrie neighbourhood of Johannesburg, South Africa, demonstrate against the lack of water on March 12.
| Photo Credit: AP

Anger is mounting in some Johannesburg districts left without water for more than a week, fewer than three months before general elections marked by voter discontent with South Africa’s failing infrastructure.

With power cuts and potholes already part of daily life, recent water shortages have increased the frustration of many over poor service delivery — a key election issue — in the country’s most populous city.

Access to basic services such as water, electricity and refuse collection remain a recurring source of anger for many of the 62 million inhabitants in Africa’s most industrialised nation.

Due to a shortfall in energy production and frequent breakdowns at its ageing power stations, South Africa has for years suffered from economy-crippling, rolling power cuts that at their worst last up to 12 hours a day.

These eased in recent months, but water troubles soon appeared, further fuelling widespread frustration at the ruling African National Congress.

Struggling in the polls, the party risks losing its parliamentary majority for the first time since the advent of democracy in 1994 amid accusations of mismanagement and corruption, and high rates of crime, poverty and unemployment.

Some 27.5 million South Africans are registered to vote in national and provincial elections on May 29.

People walk past a residential building damaged as a result of shelling in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on February 24, 2024, amid the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Indian ‘helper’ dies in Russian war zone

Hemil Ashvinbhai Mangukiya, a 23-year-old man from Gujarat who was hired as a security helper by the Russian Army, has been killed in a Ukrainian air strike on February 21 in the Donetsk region on the Russia-Ukraine border, another Indian worker who escaped the attack told The Hindu.

After a 11-year gap, Centre discloses key consumption expenditure survey data

For the first time in about 11 years, the government released the broad findings of the All India Household Consumption Expenditure Survey carried out between August 2022 and July 2023 on February 24.

The survey is usually conducted by the National Statistical Office every five years, but the findings of the last Survey, conducted in 2017-18 soon after demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), were never released after the government cited “data quality” issues.

The data will play a key role in reviewing critical economic indicators, including the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), poverty levels, and the Consumer Price Inflation (CPI).

Don’t consider our discipline and preference for dialogue as weakness: RSS farmers body tells government

The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) has condemned the violent protests by some farm unions who are demanding guaranteed minimum support prices (MSP), but it also rebuked the BJP-led Union government for not paying heed to the farmers’ pleas.

“When farmer organisations of the country come to Delhi in a disciplined and peaceful manner and present the problems and demands of the farmers to the right forums, the government does not consider it appropriate to talk to them. The attitude of the government is regrettable, which is why the possibility of violent agitation increases,” BKS general secretary Mohini Mohan Mishra told journalists on Saturday.

G7 leaders pledge support for Ukraine on war anniversary

Heads of the Group of Seven major democracies on Saturday pledged to stand by war-weary Ukraine, and Western leaders travelled to Kyiv to show solidarity on the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion, with no end in sight to the fighting. “As Ukraine enters the third year of this relentless war, its government and its people can count on the G7’s support for as long as it takes,” the G7 leaders said in a statement.

Dented by land transfer row, Patnaik govt. reaches out to tribals with sops ahead of elections 

The Odisha government recently withdrew over 48,000 cases lodged for the violation of excise and forest laws against tribal people, a decision that followed a series of steps taken apparently to woo the community ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

Experts say that Naveen Patnaik, the State’s chief minister, is looking to tighten his grip on tribal areas as the BJP has emerged as a major challenger in some pockets.

AIADMK releases AI-generated audio clip of Jayalalithaa

An AI-generated voice appeal of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa asking people to support the AIADMK was played at the party’s headquarters in Chennai on Saturday.

Berkshire ‘built to last’: Warren Buffett assures investors

In his annual letter to Berkshire shareholders, Warren Buffett reassured investors that his conglomerate would serve them well over the long term, even as he mourned the recent passing of his longtime second-in-command Charlie Munger. He also tempered expectations for Berkshire’s stock price, saying the company’s huge size left “no possibility of eye-popping performance.”

Why South Africa is facing a turning point in May’s national election

Polls suggest South Africa will face a historic turning point in a national election in May as the ruling African National Congress could lose its majority for the first time since coming to power in the country’s first all-race vote at the end of apartheid in 1994.

Digital consumers in India should not be experimented on with ‘unreliable’ models: Rajeev Chandrasekhar warns Google

Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar has made it clear to tech giant Google that explanations about unreliability of artificial intelligence models do not absolve or exempt platforms from laws, and warned that India’s digital nagriks (citizens) are not to be experimented on with unreliable platforms and algorithms. In a post on X, he said ensuring safety and trust are legal obligations of platforms. “Government has said this before – I repeat for attention of @GoogleIndia… Our DigitalNagriks are NOT to be experimented on with “unreliable” platforms/algos/model…`Sorry Unreliable’ does not exempt from law,” he said.

Hockey | No denying Janneke Schopman’s contribution but missing Olympics made her stay untenable

Janneke Schopman officially quit as chief coach of the Indian women’s hockey team on February 23, bringing the curtains down on her two-year tenure as the first-ever woman in the role. Professional sports is tough business, more so in team events, one that requires a hundred different things to fall in place, at the right time and moment, to ensure elusive success. But the parameter to measure that success is just one –results. As a coach, Janneke’s tenure saw the Indian women manage to do the first to a large extent. The second, however, remained a mixed bag.