The Fall of a Giant

How The Once Revered Party Of Mandela Lost Its Chokehold On South Africa

T. F. C. Kierse

FEW NAMES STAND AS TALL IN SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS AS NELSON MANDELA, but soon, his once grandiose African National Congress Party (ANC) will lose its majority in the South African House of Representatives. So, I wonder how did the once-revered and unstoppable force of the ANC fall into such chaos and become the South African byword for corruption and poor government?

The ANC’s broken promises, dating back to the end of apartheid, have stoked significant public anger. Despite initial successes in improving living standards in the early to mid-2000s, South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies globally. The country leads the world in unemployment, with a staggering rate of 32.9 percent. This economic plight disproportionately affects black South Africans, who continue to bear the brunt of extreme poverty and joblessness—issues that Mandela vowed to address when he assumed power.

While the ANC points to the hundreds of years of racist policies at the hands of a colonial and nationalist government as the reasons behind this, and while this does carry some weight, the broken promises from the days of Mandela still ring true in the ears of the population.

Furthermore, a lack of basic government services such as lack of electricity, broken water systems and garbage piling up on the streets has only added to the ANC’s widespread unpopularity.

Over 30 million South Africans live below the poverty line today, but still government corruption is rife within the South African system. Following the rife corruption of the Zuma Administration (which forced him to resign in disgrace in 2018), new President Ramaphosa promised to clean up the image of the ANC and become a just government again. However, it has been anything but that under his administration. If anything, the entrenched culture of graft and criminality that developed under President Zuma only got worse under Ramaphosa. Countless stories of embezzlement, unlawful stealing of funds and cheating the system run riot.

Countless infighting seems to be running rampant in the ANC. With the disqualification of Zuma, many loyalists towards him seem to be sabotaging Ramaphosa at every corner. Zuma has now created a new political party, seemingly only intent on the destruction of Ramaphosa at any cost.

Aftermath of Riots following jailing of President Zuma

Protests have broken out over the disqualification of Zuma and combined with the extreme dissatisfaction with the government, they have quickly turned into riots.

But where to for now from the ANC? Renewal? Further decline? Only time will tell. But the giant has fallen, with the once one-party like state of South Africa undoing their chokehold year by year, election by election, scandal by scandal.