OPINION: Elections2019: Parties not taking big issues seriously in election campaign
The national and provincial elections on 8 May, in which the governing African National Congress is hoping to end a decline in its support, is loud and hard-fought.
One such hold-over is the exclusion of millions of people from the economy’s benefits. Many South Africans don’t earn a wage or salary because the formal job market is closed to them. Although a growing black middle-class has emerged, its members are probably the angriest people in the country because they believe their abilities and qualifications are not recognised by the white business people and professionals who, in their view, remain in charge.
If there is a key campaign issue, it is corruption. The ANC is trying to convince voters that its new leadership is committed to rooting out misuses of public funds and trust while the opposition insists that it has not mended its ways. Second, corruption is a symptom of the economic problem. If ambitious people cannot get into the middle-class because the doors to the formal economy’s benefits are closed to them, they will use politics to move upwards, and won’t necessarily play fair because the stakes are so high.
Again this is a response to symptoms, not causes: while hostility to foreigners is a world-wide trend, it takes on its most virulent form when economies cannot meet people’s needs.
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