Twenty-five years after the jubilant vote that ended apartheid, South Africans are disillusioned
’s share of the vote was 57.5%, the first time in a national ballot that it has fallen below 60%. More important, over half of South African adults could not be bothered to go to the polls. . They are not quite ready to abandon the main party of the liberation struggle, but they wish it was better at running the country.had it not been for Cyril Ramaphosa. Pre-election polls showed that South Africans admire their president more than his party.
He must also see that corruption is rooted out. Since taking over in February 2018 Mr Ramaphosa has replaced cronies of Mr Zuma with new, clean leaders at institutions such as the National Prosecuting Authority and the South African Revenue Service. These organisations need to be fully funded, with priority given to the unit set up within theto go after crimes stemming from the era of “state capture” under Mr Zuma.
A sustained anti-corruption drive would help change investors’ pessimistic views of South Africa. The economy is perilously weak; official figures released on May 14th showed that unemployment rose from 27.1% to 27.6% in the first quarter of the year. Output may have fallen during the same period, largely because Eskom, the state-run power firm, imposed the most severe blackouts in its history.
In all of these areas Mr Ramaphosa will face fierce opposition. A hefty minority of his own party does not want him to succeed, lest they lose their illicit incomes or end up in prison. It is possible that his preference for consensus over combat will cause him to fail. But Mr Ramaphosa has faced opposition before, most notably in leading the negotiations with the old white National Party over ending apartheid. Through that process he helped define the powers of the South African presidency.
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