Published: 15:29, May 31, 2024
South Africa votes in key polls
By Ndumiso Mlilo in Johannesburg

Strong turnout expected as ruling ANC faces challenges amid sluggish economy

People queue to cast their votes at a polling station in Cape Town, South Africa, on May 29, 2024. (PHOTO / AP)

With long snaking queues still seen outside many voting stations across South Africa late on May 29, the country’s electoral management agency said the turnout in the 2024 general election is expected to exceed the previous one in 2019.

This will be the most contested election for South Africa in the past 30 years, with the ruling African National Congress, or ANC, facing serious challenges from other parties amid a sluggish national economy and high unemployment.

A total of 27.8 million people registered to vote in the national and provincial elections, the highest since the end of apartheid in 1994. A total of 23,292 polling stations were established across the country.

“We are in for a higher turnout than we had in 2019,” Chief Electoral Officer of the Electoral Commission of South Africa, or IEC, Sy Mamabolo told the media.

The elections, which coincide with South Africa’s celebration of 30 years of freedom and democracy, are the seventh general elections held since the end of apartheid.

“South Africa’s general election is a watershed moment in the political history of the country,” Aleix Montana, an analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, told Agence France-Presse.

The IEC said many South Africans turned out on May 29, and results are expected around June 2.

The IEC’s Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Masego Sheburi said voting began smoothly but there were some delays in the beginning at some polling stations.

The voter turnout is expected to be more than 66 percent, the figure recorded in the previous election in 2019, said Sheburi.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, 71, sat alongside other voters in Soweto, where he was born. Ramaphosa said he was certain South Africans would give the ANC “a firm majority”.

Nomonde Mnukwa, acting government spokesperson, said: “There is a conspicuous and palpable sense of jubilation at voting stations across the country as citizens exercise their constitutional right in this seminal seventh national election.”

A total of 2,828 members of the South African National Defense Force have been deployed to work with the police during the elections.

Tebello Mosikili, deputy national commissioner of police, said they have deployed “10 multidisciplinary airborne surveillance helicopters and drones” for monitoring the elections.

Nokuthula Ngcobo, a 36-year-old resident of Johannesburg, said she was excited to vote for her uMkhonto weSizwe party, which she thinks is capable of transforming the country for the better. The uMkhonto weSizwe party was formed in 2023 and is led by former president Jacob Zuma.

Ngcobo said: “I want the incoming government to create job opportunities. There are some graduates who are not employed. I want those above 65 years of age who are members of parliament to give youths a chance.”

The unemployment rate currently stands at 32.9 percent.

Relebogile Mashaba, 45, said she voted for the ANC to give the party another chance to complete the development projects they started. She said the ANC has improved the lives of the people through infrastructure projects and allowing free education for the poor.

Meanwhile, support for the ANC hovers at around 42 percent, according to an opinion poll cited by Reuters. A result of below 50 percent could mean the ANC would have to make a deal with one or more smaller parties for the first time since it came to power 30 years ago.

Among the opposition parties vying for power is the Democratic Alliance, which won the second-largest vote share in 2019. It has formed a coalition with several smaller parties.

Agencies contributed to this story.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.