- Author, Damian Zane, Dorothy Otieno & Olaniyi Adebimpe
- Role, BBC News
South Africa, one of the continent’s wealthiest and most influential countries, goes to the polls on May 29 amid concerns about unemployment, high crime rates and power outages.
Here, in charts, are the big issues in this general election – the seventh since the democratic era began in 1994.
If the polls are correct then the ballot could herald a new phase in the country’s politics.
The African National Congress (ANC) has been the dominant political force since it successfully led the struggle against the white minority government and the racist legal system known as apartheid.
He won the country’s first democratic elections in 1994 and has been in power ever since.
However, its share in the general election has steadily declined from a high of 70% in 2004.
Polls suggest it may fall below 50% for the first time, forcing the party into some form of coalition.
One of the factors that ate into the ANC’s support is the state of the economy.
Taken together over the past 30 years, South Africans have, on average, become richer. Poverty levels have fallen and, in general, people have access to better housing and healthcare.
However, since 2011 there has been a downward trend in median incomes, leaving many feeling less well off and leading to accusations that the ruling party has mismanaged the economy.
South Africa, however, has recently been affected by external factors such as the coronavirus pandemic and global price rises.
Looking at average prices alone does not tell the whole story of a country, as income and wealth are not evenly distributed across the population.
Using a measure known as the Gini coefficient, which looks at the percentage of income received by different groups of households, South Africa is the most unequal country in the world.
For example, the richest 20% of the population owns almost 70% of the income. In contrast, the poorest 40% of South Africans own just 7% of the country’s income.
One of the main drivers of inequality and the most obvious impact of economic problems can be seen in the unemployment rate, which according to the World Bank is the highest in the world.
It has barely recovered from its peak during the pandemic and currently almost a third of South Africans looking for work cannot find work.
The economy has not grown at a rate that can support the numbers entering the labor market.
Unemployment has particularly affected young people. More than 44% of 15 to 34 year olds are not in education, training or employment.
Like many African countries, South Africa has a young population – the majority of the country’s 62 million people are under the age of 35.
A UN report last year described the job shortage as a “ticking time bomb”, suggesting it could be a source of political instability in the future.
In their pre-election statements, political parties pledge to tackle the high levels of crime that have plagued the country for many years.
Statistics show that while there has been a slight drop in the number of attacks over the past decade, the rates of robbery, rape and murder have remained almost unchanged.
On average, in the last three months of 2023, one person was murdered in South Africa every 20 minutes. During the same time period, more than 130 people were rushed every day.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the level of violence as a war on women, but his party is facing criticism for its handling of the problem.
South Africans are currently enjoying a respite from the regular blackouts that have plagued the country in recent years.
Planned outages – known as loadouts – have disrupted people’s lives and hurt economic growth.
Poor maintenance, aging infrastructure, corruption and mismanagement have been blamed for the failures of state electricity company Eskom.
About 3% of the population, amounting to about 2.4 million people, are immigrants to South Africa.
Despite the country’s economic difficulties, it is still a major attraction for people from the region and the continent as a whole.
At the same time, some foreigners, even though they make up a small percentage of the population, have been accused of taking jobs from locals and blamed for the high levels of crime. Waves of xenophobic violence have seen many people targeted.
Earlier this month, human rights group Human Rights Watch said foreign nationals had been used as scapegoats and demonized in the election campaign, risking further xenophobic violence.
image source, Getty Images/BBC