A recent general election in South Africa reveals rising voter frustration with partisan politics, and the policies of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which is still poised to keep its majority despite the mounting economic challenges.
Kristian Rouz — South Africa’s ruling party, the Africa National Congress (ANC), is set to maintain its majority in parliament after the 8 May election, according to preliminary results. The Rainbow Nation’s voters appear to have given the party its last chance to tackle crippling unemployment, rife corruption, and disruptions in infrastructure after 25 years in power.
The majority of electoral districts have declared their results, according to which, the ANC received roughly 58 percent of the vote; the opposition centre-right Democratic Alliance got 21 percent. The results reflect a gradual erosion of public confidence in the ANC since the previous election back in 2014, when the party received 62 percent of the vote.
The results also appear to reflect mounting public disenchantment with the ANC’s policies, as over the last five years. The nation’s debt has balanced on the edge of ‘junk’ according to its international credit ratings, massive power outages have resulted from alleged corruption in the national utility Eskom, and the country has failed to tackle unemployment, which averages about 30 percent.
