South Africa’s ANC to lose majority: ‘It is a seismic’ shift and ‘a pivotal moment’ • FRANCE 24

South Africa’s ANC to lose majority: ‘It is a seismic’ shift and ‘a pivotal moment’ • FRANCE 24

in other world news outgoing South African president sirel Raposa is facing calls to resign after leading hisc party to its worst election result in three decades the African National Congress and now divided movement that led the nation out of white minority Rule and into democracy Remains the largest party in Parliament but loses its absolute majority it will need to find Coalition Partners in order to remain in power well for more we’re join now for our guest of the B slot by sonha NAU senior research fellow at The Institute for Global dialogue thank you so much for being with us on the program this morning Sona so firstly just talk to us a little bit about how significant this moment is for South Africa it’s been described as a seismic shift uh good morning and good morning to the viewers indeed it is it is very much a a seismic and a an a pivotal moment in our democracy I mean thec has been that party that has remained in power for more than 30 I mean for for 30 years um and of course the point is that it was the party that many Saw as the liberation of South Africa but also played a pivotal role in the negotiations of the political transition so where it finds itself right now I think is a very it’s a very hard uh reality for thec that given that is history of being the oldest Liberation movement in the continent not just in South Africa but in the continent of Africa actually is is is quite a difficult time for them to digest that they’ve lost almost 177% from the last national election in 2019 and where they find themselves now at 40% but I think it is also a very interesting time because we have to understand that this democracy has gone through es and flows and so the fragmentation of the political Spectrum the fragmentation of the body politic but also I think the the reality check for not just thec but also for opposition parties is that nobody actually got a majority in this election which makes makes it very interesting at that at that level as well but I think now the the real issue for the ANC and other political parties is about what kind of Coalition talks they are going to enter into what kind of engagements they’re going to enter into and what kind of discussions they’re going to enter into in terms of where they want to be in forming a government but right now we also are dealing with the the disruptor to this election which is the en country seaes party which has now issued a statement to say late last night by by his president uh former Jacob former president Jacob Zuma to say that they want to revote so we’re kind of in limbo right now because the independent electoral commission will have to call the election this evening but we’re not sure where this goes even after this yeah because Jacob Zuma’s MK party it has said as well that it’s willing to negotiate with thec but not thec of SEL Raposa so is there any way for him to remain on as president at this point do you think well um the ANC itself uh we listened to the deputy secretary General yesterday uh and she indicated U Miss nula makyan she indicated that they’ll have to go back to internal structures and discuss that option and I don’t think it’s an option that they were willing to also put on the table in terms of saying well we’re going to get uh because remember president roposa has been reelected for for another five years as president of the party so it’s all about the internal Dynamics and I think they are not willing to also engage in that kind of discussion where they’ll the MK party will only speak to the ANC if president Raposa is uh asked to step down but there’s another dilemma here is that that’s one set of the talks so the one set of the talks is where will the Coalition be uh and what kind of Coalition talks will happen between thec the MK and perhaps even the eff as as one set of actors in in that Coalition but what’s the other issue right now that is more immediate for us is what’s going to be the uh the I’s results proc Proclamation later this evening at 6: p.m sou African time and how the MK party late yesterday evening issued its own briefing to say and to and and and what former president Jacob Zuma said which was very very chilling in a way is that they don’t want this election result to be called to be finalized to be proclaimed and if they do they feel that that is is um kind of uh provoking the MK and I think we sitting now in a bit of a uh a very difficult Corridor between what the Coalition talks are looking like and whether this election can be proclaimed and what’s going to be the impact if indeed the I is feeling is being threatened quote unquote by the MK party and sisha there’s always been there’s also been some speculation that the Centrist Democratic Alliance might end up playing a king maker role here do you see that as a possibility um it’s opposes for example the anc’s black empowerment policy so how might that work out if it were to end up playing a kingmaker role well I think the DA has realized that it itself also has to think about where it is in the political Spectrum so I’m not sure whether they’ll be completely opposed to the actual policy I think they kind of look at the policy and they want the policy to be much more measured in alignment with um the kind of U meritocracy of what black economic empowerment should be articulated in terms of policymaking in terms of economic decision- making and of course in terms of the economy and where it it should be empowering the economy so there may be some level of um discussion and negotiation around the implementation of it and I think that’s where the Democratic Alliance and the ANC may find that they can find they can discuss some level of how do you implement it because I think this is the challenge the challenge is not black economic empowerment per se it’s the implementation of the black economic empowerment which the da says tends to create more more deskilling of the economy or more more more cracks in the economy or it doesn’t really promote an entrepreneurial meritocracy of an economic growth strategy so I think those are the those are the Dynamics where both the da and the ANC may find themselves trying to discuss what will be the measures on implementation that they could go forward with in terms of finding a common ground on black economic empowerment and just finally how has South Africa gotten to this point why has thec been struggling to get through to voters well I think you know the ANC has also been kind of disconnecting itself from the voters there’s been an increasing level of internal turmoil in the in in in thec U there’s a there’s a lack of trust again in thec it hasn’t really performed at the economic and socioeconomic level when it talks about black economic empowerment then it also looks at how that aligns to its patronage networks it talks about socio economic challenges but it hasn’t really done anything substantive uh in the transformation of people’s lives and livelihoods especially around economic uh architecture around employment poverty inequality and I think there’s a younger generation and of course the service delivery issues where people are still living in in in in in in situations that haven’t really given them a dignified life and I think there’s a younger generation which just don’t have loyalty to the ANC they don’t they not held to the ANC by the inter by by the rhetoric of Liberation Sena we’ll have to leave it there for now but thank you so much for that very in incisive analysis that’s Sena NAU senior research fellow at The Institute for Global dialogue thank you so much

Outgoing South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, is facing calls to resign after leading his ANC party to its worst election result in three decades. The African National Congress remains the largest party in parliament, but loses its absolute majority. It will need to find coalition partners in order to remain in power. For more analysis, FRANCE 24’s Sharon Gaffney is joined by Sanusha Naidu, senior research fellow at the Institute for Global Dialogue.
#elections #Pretoria #SouthAfrica

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