Politics
South Africa elections slated for May 7. Reduced majority expected for ANC
Incumbent South African President Jacob Zuma (l) and leader of opposition Democratic Alliance Party Helen Zille (r). PHOTO/Daily Maverick
South Africa will hold general elections on May 7, President Jacob Zuma announced on Friday, with his African National Congress (ANC) likely to easily extend its two-decade rule, despite rising discontent among its poverty-stricken grassroots supporters.
Zuma himself has lost popularity amid allegations of using public funds for private purposes, and the announcement of the election date came as demonstrations by residents in largely black townships, against poor government services, spread.
The ANC, which spearheaded the fight against the racist and brutal apartheid system, should retain the die-hard loyalty of an older generation whose memories of apartheid system that discriminated against non-whites remain fresh. That should enable the ANC to win the vote with a comfortable majority, giving Zuma a second and final term in office.
But the ANC which has been in power since the end of white minority rule in 1994 faces charges of largely failing to lift millions of blacks out of poverty.
Unemployment in South Africa is running at around 25 percent and growth in Africa’s biggest economy has slowed sharply to about 2 percent in 2013, disrupted by the global slowdown and labor unrest that has frequently halted production in the mainstay mining and auto sectors.
The ANC will probably also fail to attract many of the “born free” voters, or South Africans born after the end of apartheid, as young blacks are not overly impressed by its liberation movement credentials.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is the main opposition party but its drive to shed its image as a party that champions mainly white interests suffered a blow this month when a deal to merge with the Agang party and make prominent anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele the Democratic Alliance’s first black presidential candidate collapsed.
