S Africans vote in test for ANC

Johannesburg: South Africans voted on Wednesday in nationwide polls all but certain to return the ruling ANC despite anger over corruption scandals, sluggish growth, and record unemployment. The election is the first measure of whether President Cyril Ramaphosa can reinvigorate support for a party whose backing rests largely on its liberation credentials, but now faces the prospect of a reduced majority. “The ANC has been in power for the past 25 years and I don’t see any change,” lamented unemployed father-of-two Jacob Maretlwa, 30, who lives in a shack in Coligny in the North West province. Ramaphosa, 66, took over last year after the ANC, which first swept to power in 1994, forced then-President Jacob Zuma to resign after a nine-year term dominated by corruption allegations and a struggling economy. Zuma oversaw the party’s most significant drop in support in the democratic era. “This is a vote that reminds us of 1994... heralding a new period,” Ramaphosa said after casting his ballot at a school in Chiawelo, Soweto, and described himself as “excitedly confident” of the outcome. “I am truly humbled by the turnout... it’s a vote for the democratic system we have been building for 25 years,” he said. “This is like a rocket booster for democracy.” The 1994 vote saw Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress take power in the country’s first multi-racial polls, marking the end of apartheid. Support for the ANC has fallen in every election since 2004 with the party taking 54 per cent in 2016 municipal elections, compared with 62 per cent in 2014’s national vote. Most opinion surveys suggest the ANC will secure nearly 60 per cent of the Wednesday’s vote, thanks to Ramaphosa’s appeal and a fractured opposition. “It reflects the weakness of the opposition, more than it does reflect the achievements of the ANC,” said political scientist Collette Schulz-Herzenberg from Stellenbosch University. The ANC has been confronted by deepening public anger over its failure to tackle poverty and inequality in post-apartheid South Africa. “It’s not easy to make the right choice,” said Soweto-based first-time voter Nokuthula Shongwe, 18, who stated her priorities as unemployment and crime. “I’m nervous.” — AFP