South Africa’s general election in May 2024 fundamentally changed the country’s political landscape when the African National Congress (ANC) lost its majority for the first time. Collette Schulz-Herzenberg and Roger Southall are the editors of a new book called Election 2024, South Africa: Countdown to Coalition. They fielded some questions.
Why were the 2024 elections so significant?
They were historic because the ANC lost the majority status it had enjoyed nationally since the first democratic election in 1994. The outcome resulted in the formation of a government of national unity – a de facto coalition of the ANC with the former opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) and eight smaller parties.
