STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: S. AFRICA’S CRAZY COALITION GOVT!

2024 was a year of elections. Voters in more than 60 countries went to the polls. Some incumbents hung on to power, while others got the boot.

One of the countries where elections took place on our continent was South Africa, where the ruling African National Congress (ANC) lost its majority for the first time since coming to power in 1994, after the fall of the apartheid regime.

Its failure to secure a majority saw the former liberation movement go into coalition with other political parties - including, astonishingly, with its longtime nemesis, the rightwing Democratic Alliance (DA).

The political marriage between the ANC and the DA has led to fears that the country is falling into the hands of pro-Western interests. This can only further delay efforts to emancipate the nation fully and improve the welfare of the majority-Black population, which has yet to see any social or economic mobility worth writing home about.

That’s the topic that we delve into in this extract from our bumper end-of-year review discussion. What do you think about the ANC's political gamble?

Source:

https://www.idea.int/initiatives/the-2024-global-elections-supercycle