Thirty years after South Africans flocked to the country’s first free and fair elections, the country is at another pivot point. Polls suggest that in Wednesday’s general election, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is likely to lose its majority for the first time, though its figures have improved somewhat in recent weeks. Despite some promising advances in the ANC’s first decade in power, the country’s political transformation with the end of apartheid was never adequately matched by economic and social change. GDP growth has averaged 0.8% annually since 2012.
A black middle class emerged, but income inequality is extraordinarily high. The top 0.1% hold 25% of the wealth, while the bottom 50% owe more than they own. Unemployment stands at more than 40% if those who have given up looking for jobs are included. The murder rate is one of the highest in the world. Education and the crumbling infrastructure are a source of national despair. Eskom, the state power company, has just said that it has “fixed” endemic blackouts. Others are sceptical. In 2022, more than four in five adults surveyed said the country was going in the wrong direction.
