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?
Election officials scan voters’ identity documents during South Africa’s local government elections in Umlazi, Durban.
Reuters/Rogan Ward
Many municipalities in the South Africa don’t function properly because of poor management and administrative capacity. They don’t have enough appropriately qualified and experienced staff.
Anti-rape protesters at President Jacob Zuma’s election results speech.
Beeld/Deon Raath
The ghost of ‘Khwezi’ – the woman who accused Jacob Zuma of rape in 2006 – continues to haunt him, just as the spectre of rape continues to haunt South Africa.
President Jacob Zuma, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and former anti-apartheid activist Sophie de Bruyn at the unveiling of a monument to the 1956 women’s march.
GCIS
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.
South African President Jacob Zuma reacts during the official announcement of the municipal election results in Pretoria.
Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
Various commentators have wrongly over the last 22 years said that black people voted blindly for ANC governments. There’s no better example why the academy needs a dramatic post-colonial overhaul.
South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance party leader Mmusi Maimane.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
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.
Supporters of South Africa’s governing ANC during President Jacob Zuma’s election campaign in Pretoria.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
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.
Supporters of South Africa’s governing ANC with a mock coffin of the opposition EFF at the ANC’s Siyanqoba rally ahead of local elections.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
South Africans are expressing disillusionment with the African National Congress. But dissatisfaction with the ruling party does not automatically translate into support for other parties.
The ANC’s top brass at the party’s rally ahead of municipal elections.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
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.
Voters wait their turn outside a polling station at Nkonjeni village in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The country is gearing up for local elections.
Reuters/Radu Sigheti
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.
Supporters of South Africa’s governing ANC during campaigning for upcoming local election.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
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.
Mmusi Maimane, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, woos voters in hotly-contested Nelson Mandela Bay.
Supplied by the DA
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?
A new book lays bare England’s treachery and connivance in denying black South Africans the vote.
Britain’s acquiescence in the face of Afrikaner intransigence set the precedent for the progressive disenfranchisement of nonwhite South Africans and laid down the foundation for apartheid.
South Africans’ right to vote was hard fought and hard won.
Kim Ludbrook/EPA
South Africa’s university students have shown that they can have an impact on the political landscape. That’s why it’s so important that they exercise their right to vote.
Your vote is not insignificant in the bigger scheme of things. It matters.
Rod Waddington/Flickr
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.
South African President Jacob Zuma, flanked by ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe (left) and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
A key question ahead of local government elections in South Africa is whether the African National Congress will retain control of seven of the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities.
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