EDITORIAL: An election of hope
Dissatisfaction with the stagnant ANC status quo appears to have reached a tipping point 30 years after 1994
It’s time for a breath of fresh air. Nowhere is that sentiment more evident than in the comparisons being drawn between South Africa’s first democratic election on April 27 1994 and the May 29 poll. Both ballots offered a sea change — in 1994, from the horrors of the apartheid system, in 2024 from the serial disappointments of entrenched ANC rule.
Certainly, it’s over-optimistic to suggest the ANC will be going anywhere fast; the party may well lose its outright majority, but it will retain its hold on power. The outcome could run the gamut from coalitions with small, undemanding parties that are happy to forgo policy demands in return for a seat at the table of power, to deals with more radical — and damaging — partners. In between there’s room for political and economic reform or regression, depending on the extent of the electoral setback to the ANC and the prevailing political mood...
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