South Africa Elections: Power corrupts

By Wong Rui Yik

Image Source: Straits Times

Results:

Total Seat Count: 400, 201 seats required for a majority

Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC (centre-left party): 159 Seats (71 seat loss, majority lost)

Mallikarjun Kharges’s DA (centre-left party): 87 Seats (3 seat gain)

Jacob Zuma’s MK: 58 seats (new party)

Final Result: Cyril Ramaphosa is the President, governing with a coalition between DA and ANC.

It might be unimaginable, and to an extent, misleading, to be reminded that liberation and the ANC were once synonymous—almost to the extent of sharing the same bloodline—to each other. A Shakespearean tragedy at its climax, the African National Congress (ANC)’s decline—from Nelson Mandela’s apartheid-ending party, to a party losing its majority for the first time in the history of its country’s democracy—marks the end of an era for South African politics. Power corrupted the South African party: virtually one-party-rule marred South African politics, giving the ANC unlimited power to enact its policy-agenda—or rob the country of its potential. The aspiring democracy unfortunately suffered from the party’s decision to choose the latter. Even rolling power outages were used as a bargaining chip for the ANC, with power outages suddenly stopping for a record 48 days before the election—an attempt to win over the South African electorate (Anders and Acharya 2024). Nothing is beneath the current ANC.

The ANC and liberation are not members of the same family. They’re strangers.

It’s no wonder that since then, it's been punished by the South African electorate. In a historic 17-point drop in the elections since 2019, the ANC has since scrambled to form a national unity government to grasp at whatever straws there are left of redemption. There aren’t many left, however. Alongside the ANC are: the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a neo-communist party supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Economic Freedom Fighters 2022); the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, a nominally left-wing (or far right, socialist, populist, or nationalist, depending on who you ask) party formed by former ANC leader Jacob Zuma, focused on expropriating white-owned land without compensation; the Democratic Alliance (DA), a primarily white-dominated centrist political party arising from the roots of the white parliamentarian opposition to apartheid in the 1950s. Almost all of these parties have been spawned in response to an increasingly unpopular and blundering establishment party—that is, the ANC— and a desire for radical change amongst the electorate: a volatile combination that has been proven before in history.

For now, the ANC still has its neck above the water—being able to form a coalition government with the DA, despite strong opposition and a petition within the party from doing so (The Economist 2024). The international community, investors, and the South African people can only hope that this devastating blow to the ANC can help to serve as a turning point for South African politics—perhaps the ANC and salvation can become members of the same family again.