Politics
South Africa elections slated for May 7. Reduced majority expected for ANC
Twenty four million South Africans have already registered to vote on May 7.
“We have worked hard to build a peaceful and stable South Africa from the ruins of apartheid violence, divisions and hatred,” Zuma said in a brief statement announcing the election date on Friday. “Let us make this a vibrant, robust, exciting, peaceful and most successful election, and maintain our track record of successful elections.”
But the ANC’s credibility has been undermined by its management of the economy and its inability to soothe tensions in the platinum belt, where miners are angry about their lack of economic progress two decades after the end of apartheid.
The radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by expelled former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, is tapping into the simmering discontent to advocate nationalization of mines.
Formed in 2013, the EFF is the latest in a scattering of new political groupings that have emerged recently to try to challenge the ANC. Although still very young, the party is gaining traction with young South Africans who often sport red T-shirts and berets, like Malema.
The ANC will probably win just 56.2 percent of the vote this time, compared with 65.9 percent in the last election in 2009, said Nomura International analyst Peter Attard Montalto.
“Demographics are nibbling away at the “liberation debt” owed to the ANC combined with increasing dissatisfaction with delivery and new choices of party,” Montalto said in a note.
Source: Reuters
