The official African National Congress (ANC) South Africa obtained the worst result in the elections since he came to power in 1994 and lost its historic parliamentary majoritybeing forced to look for allies in other parties to be able to continue governing.
This Saturday the results of Wednesday’s elections were unofficially known, with 99.5% of the ballots already counted. The match of Cyril Ramaphosa took out the 40.21% of the votes – a significant decrease from 57.5% in 2019 -, followed by the neoliberal Democratic Alliance with the 21.79 percenthe Umkhonto We Sizwe with the 14.61 percent and, fourthly, the left-wing radicals Fighters for Economic Freedomwith 9.48 percent.
The drop in support for the ANC is explained by a variety of factors, mainly social and economic. The group came to power in 1994 at the hands of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid. From that moment, he showed himself as a leading actor in the overthrow of the segregation regime and a reference in the fight for education, housing and the well-being of the people.
However, today’s South Africa is mired in a climate of delinquency, poverty, inequality, lack of basic services such as electricity and water, a rate of unemployment that exceeds 32 percent and, if that were not enough, scandals of corruption.
“The ANC has ruled this country for a long time but nothing has changed,” said a man this Wednesday as he left the polling station. “I am hopeful that the ANC will realize that we don’t need it anymore. We need a change,” added a 21-year-old student.
However, Ramaphosa is determined to fight and make alliances with other groups that will allow him to once again gain a legislative majority and, with it, the possibility that the 400 deputies about to take office elect him this month as the new head of state.
“We have been talking to everyone, even before the elections, but everything must be based on principles and not an act of desperation”said the party’s deputy general secretary, Nomvula Mokonyane, the day before, who sought to reduce the tension aroused after the preliminary results and announced that no formal announcement will be made until the formal presentation of the data, this Sunday.
In this way, politics left the door open to hold conversations with both the right and the left, although this might not be such a simple task.
An approach with Democratic Alliance, led by the white politician John Steenhuisen and characteristic of representing this minority, could encounter resistance in the ANC. Its program is based mainly on the free market and in the end of black economic empowerment initiativesthat is, exactly the opposite of the values of the ruling formation.
From the AD they said that “negotiations between the parties have not yet begun but channels, face-to-face conversations, have been opened.” Meanwhile, Mandela’s grandson and outgoing Congress representative, Mandala, argued that an alliance would be incompatible because There are “different ideals” and suggested that a better alternative would be to seek support from the FEF or the MK, created six months ago by former ANC chief Jacob Zuma.
In any case, this could also run into obstacles since Julius Malema, of the FEFassured that “We are not desperate and we will not give up our demands or our principles” for joining the ruling party. This position is “too erratic” and poses an “unpredictable” outcome of the conversations, added analyst Susan Booysen.
On the MK side, the situation would be even more complicated due to Zuma’s history with the party, from which he was forced to leave. resign as president in 2018 amid corruption accusations. ““We will make compromises with the ANC but not with Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC,” declared spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela.
(With information from AFP)
