Abstention in the 2021 local government election was largely driven by a combination of individual and administrative barriers.
Guillem Sartorio/AFP via Getty Images
The South African electorate is becoming less tied to race and identity-based voting but are increasingly making a wider evaluation of the performance of political incumbents.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa (L) is congratulated by leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party Mangosuthu Buthelezi (R) after being elected president of South Africa during the swearing in of new members of the National Assembly.
Nic Bothma
The failure of the 2021 post-election deal is a missed opportunity for the African National Congress and Inkatha to work together.
Mxolisi Kaunda mayor of eThekwini. If parties or individuals succeed in the politics and practicalities of governing a metro, the rewards are considerable.
Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images
The 2021 local government elections signals widespread disillusionment with representative democracy that only a sea change in service delivery can fix.
South Africans queue to vote in the 2021 local government elections in Centurion, Tshwane, Pretoria.
GCIS/Flickr
The 2021 election will define for citizens important aspects of South Africa’s political future. What is the governing ANC’s future, and what was the impact of President Ramaphosa on this election?
The city’s government wanted the wealthy and overwhelmingly white areas of the city to subsidise the development of the poor and overwhelmingly black areas.
The Democratic Alliance has been accused of inflaming racial tensions in Phoenix. Local residents belonging to a protection group stand watch in July 2021 at the height of the violence.
Photo by Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images
The Democratic Alliance posters were not a bolt from the blue. They were consistent with messages the party’s current leadership has been sending out for some time.
Former Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Athol Trollip, from the DA, third from left, and his deputy Mongameli Bobani, from the UDM, extreme right, help clean up a street in 2017.
by Werner Hills/Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images
South Africa’s political parties would do well to learn from Ireland, where the three largest political parties negotiated a coalition treaty that stipulated mechanisms for conflict resolution.
Failure to campaign due to COVID-19 has fuelled calls to synchronise polls.
EFE-EPA
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