South Africans voted overwhelmingly on May 8 for the ruling African National Congress (ANC), returning the party to government with a nearly 3-1 majority above the nearest runner up within the legislative structure.
Incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa, a former trade union leader and co-founder of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), was sworn into office again on May 25 with thousands of cheering ANC members in attendance along with representatives of allied parties from across the continent and the world.
Since 1994 the party of former President Nelson Mandela has retained its position as the leading force in national politics.
Founded in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress, the ANC is the oldest liberation movement turned political party on the continent. With the country of 58 million people continuing to be the largest industrial state in Africa, the leading position of the ANC in any continent-wide reconstruction and development program is secured.
Results released by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on the May 8 voting revealed that the ANC won 57.50% of the ballots cast. The closest party after the ANC was the Democratic Alliance (DA) which garnered 20.77% followed by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) gaining 10.77%. There are 26.7 million registered voters in South Africa and 66 percent of the electorate turned out for the most recent election.
Although the ruling party achieved nearly five percent less votes than the previous national election in 2014 (62.15) its principal opposition within the National Assembly, the DA, also loss nearly two percent in the recent 2019 election, falling from 22.23% to 20.77%. The EFF gained four percentage points going from 6.35% in 2014 to 10.79%. Even with this increase by the EFF, it remains far behind both the ANC and DA in popular electoral support.
Other smaller parties such as the Inkhata Freedom (IFP), Freedom Front Plus (FFP) and the African Christian Democrats (ACDP) combined won less than three percent of the votes. The FFP, a far-right political party representing the minority Afrikaner population gained 1.48% over previous results in 2014.
The ANC also maintained its leadership in eight out of the nine provinces within South Africa. In the Western Cape, which has traditionally been dominated by the DA, saw the opposition party losing support from 59.38% to 55.45%. Although the DA will control the provincial legislative structures in the Western Cape, deep divisions and accusations of corruption has served to erode its support.
These results are reflective of the ongoing political support that the ANC has inside the country despite the myriad of economic and social problems plaguing the people. South Africa is challenged with the necessity of overcoming centuries of European encroachment beginning in the mid-17th century.
Apartheid– the system of racial separation, economic exploitation and settler-colonialism–left the African people landless and without political representation. It would take a combined mass, worker and armed struggle to bring about the demise of the white minority rule resulting in the holding of the first non-racial democratic elections in 1994, bringing the ANC to power.
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 