South Africa’s ruling party has lost its moral and intellectual capacity to claim the mantle of leadership. The country’s economy won’t recover unless new political alignments emerge.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on South African politics
Displaying 201 - 220 of 328 articles
Populations revolt when lives are improving but not fast enough to meet their rising expectations.
South Africa has reached a critical point. If patronage politicians win the battle within the ruling ANC and complete the capture of the state, the country will slip from stagnation into the abyss.
MK, the army of the then banned ANC, electrified millions of oppressed people to rise against the apartheid regime. Today, its veterans are being used in factional battles within the ruling party.
South Africa’s watershed local elections have resulted in upsets for the ANC in key metropoles. But will the new, minority coalition regimes live up to their mandate of providing basic services?
There were high hopes that the SABC would become a true public broadcaster after the end of apartheid when it was used ruthlessly as a propaganda machine. But those hopes have since been dashed.
The EFF is sending a strong message to South Africans that it wants to be known as the only political home for radical change.
In many ways the office of the Public Protector has become the barometer of the state of South Africa’s constitutional democracy.
South Africa’s past tells us that, under certain conditions, women mobilise in ways that produce significant political results. But the country’s present shows how easily these gains can evaporate.
Qunta advocates a reparations fund to accelerate corrective policies, that schools be freed from colonial indoctrination and that African culture should be mainstreamed, especially African languages.
Patronage and clientelism is slipping away from the ANC and accruing to those who pledge their political futures to the Democratic Alliance. It will have to guard against incumbency arrogance.
The ruling ANC has been seriously challenged by the Democratic Alliance, but South African politics is still about white privilege and black exclusion.
For more than 20 years the ANC’s electoral support has appeared unyielding to the obvious weaknesses of its performance in government. To fall below 60% is psychologically significant for the party.
The ANC has faced an inexorable, gradual decline in support since 2004. There is no evidence that it has been able to reverse this trend.
The ANC’s waning urban vote and growing support rural is not a political trend unique to South Africa. Many of Africa’s liberation-movements-cum-governing-parties now depend on rural support for political longevity.
The opposition Democratic Alliance is hopeful that the African National Congress will fail to win a majority in three metros. This will open the door for it to rule in coalition with smaller parties.
The Tripartite Alliance in South Africa has previously provided the governing African National Congress with diverse support, securing it victory at the polls. It is now riven with dissension.
In previous elections speculation in South Africa focused on the likely size of the ruling ANC’s majority. This time the question on people’s minds is: will the ANC win or lose Nelson Mandela Bay?
Unscrupulous politicians are adept at using regressive story lines that feed insecurities. That could be dangerous ahead of South Africa’s hotly-contested municipal elections.
When celebrating Nelson Mandela Day, it would benefit South Africans to reflect on what the statesman’s legacy means for the nation and how they are living up to his dreams for the country.
Top contributors
-
Political Scientist, University of the Western Cape
-
Professor in Political Science, University of South Africa
-
Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand
-
Professor of Public Affairs, Tshwane University of Technology
-
Professor of Political Studies, University of Johannesburg
-
Visiting Professor and Professor Emeritus, University of the Witwatersrand
-
Professor of World Politics, SOAS, University of London
-
Professor and Head of Department of Political and Conflict Studies, Nelson Mandela University
-
Associate Professor in Public Law, University of Cape Town
-
Chief Research Specialist in Democracy and Citizenship at the Human Science Research Council and a Research Fellow Centre for African Studies, University of the Free State
-
Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester
-
Professor of Urban Governance, University of the Witwatersrand
-
Distinguished Reserach Professor, Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
-
Professor of Digital Society, University of Glasgow
-
Lecturer, Nelson Mandela University
