Former South African president Jacob Zuma is endorsing the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party, the latest rival to the governing African National Congress (ANC) for the upcoming national elections. By doing so, he not only challenges the ANC politically, but also claims its heritage. The new party – which media reports say is Zuma’s brainchild – uses the name of the ANC’s former military wing. The party’s launch coincided with the 62nd anniversary of the real uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), formed on 16 December 1961 to fight the apartheid government. Zuma could not have been more daring. Yet the ANC obfusc ..read more

The African National Congress has lost electoral support but remains dominant. Phill Magakoe / AFP via Getty Images. As power cuts continue, the economy falters, unemployment rises and the currency tumbles, South Africa’s political commentators tend to agree that support for the governing African National Congress (ANC) will fall under 50% in the 2024 national and provincial elections. If the party avoids a defeat, it could lead to a coalition government. It’s only logical to expect that governance failures of this magnitude would send large numbers of dissatisfied voters into the arms of oppo ..read more

Presidents Hage Geingob, left, and Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Buildings in Tshwane. GCIS Namibian president Hage Geingob used his recent state visit to South Africa to also address a meeting of the national executive committee of the governing party, the African National Congress (ANC). This underscored the ANC’s historic ties to Namibia’s governing party, South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo). According to President Cyril Ramaphosa, who also heads the ANC, the party had a “wonderful engagement” with Geingob, who posted on Facebook: As former liberation movements, we learn from on ..read more

President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses African National Congress members in Johannesburg in July. Phill Magakoe/AFP via Getty Images South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), is in a crisis. Having dominated the country’s politics since democracy in 1994, it has been losing voter support in the last three national elections. Since the 2016 local elections, the party has also been losing some of its strongholds. Factionalism, association with corruption and poor governance have been its undoing. Some pundits are predicting that its 55th national elective conference will ..read more

Cyril Ramaphosa Photo by Xabiso Mkhabela/Xinhua via Getty Images South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa faces possible impeachment in the country’s parliament over the illegal stashing of thousands of US dollars at his farm in 2020. This is not the first time there’s been a threat of impeachment of a president in post-democratic South Africa. His scandal-prone predecessor, Jacob Zuma, survived an impeachment vote in 2017 over the illegal use of public money to renovate his private residence. There is, however, a difference in the process being followed this time. It is the first since parlia ..read more

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the 2022 state of nation address to a joint sitting of Parliament. Coalitions could soon be a feature of national government. Jaco Marais/Pool Images/Gallo Images via Getty Images) South Africa’s municipal government elections in 2021 produced a number of largely unstable local government coalitions. There’s now a strong possibility that the next government that’s formed at national level may be a coalition too. This would be the first since the dawn of democracy in 1994. Elections due in 2024 will test the extent of the declining dominance of ..read more

Mpho Phalatse was toppled as mayor of Johannesburg following a no-confidence vote in September. A high court reinstated her. Luba Lesolle/Gallo Images via Getty Images South Africa’s 28-year-old, continuously transforming multiparty democracy was reminded of its own fragility when, in September, a coalition running its biggest city, Johannesburg, collapsed. The speaker and the mayor lost their jobs. A new coalition took office, only to be removed by a high court verdict three weeks later. This was followed by the ousting of the mayor of the adjoining metropole of Ekurhuleni. This isn’t the fir ..read more

Voters in Johannesburg queue to vote in South Africa's May 2019 national elections. EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook After 28 years of democracy, South Africa is having to reform its political party-based electoral system to make it fairer and in line with the constitution, by allowing independent candidates to contest national and provincial parliaments. A bill to amend the country’s electoral law accordingly is before parliament. The present electoral system has underpinned the governing African National Congresses’ (ANC’s) dominance of the political system since 1994, not least by making individual MPs ..read more

Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa and leader of the governing party. GCIS The African National Congress (ANC) faces an increasingly uncertain future as the dominant political party in South Africa following the recent scandal engulfing its leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa. The party has steadily been losing popular support for the past two decades. It went into the last general elections in 2019 with only one trump card – Ramaphosa. He has been the party’s main vote-winner following his predecessor Jacob Zuma’s corrupt reign which ended in February 2018. The ANC built its 2019 e ..read more

Basotho men wearing the traditional blankets during the annual horse race held on the king's birthday. EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook Two southern African countries, South Africa and Eswatini, are undergoing important reforms. South Africa is reviewing its electoral system while Eswatini is revisiting the powers of the monarch through a national dialogue. South Africa and Eswatini can look to Lesotho for lessons. It’s a fellow member of the Southern African Development Community and has grappled with these issues for decades. The three countries share geographic, historical and economic ties. The kingdo ..read more