South Africa’s four major political parties enter final campaign weekend before elections

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s four main political parties began their final weekend of campaigning Saturday before potentially crucial elections that could bring the most significant change the country has seen in three decades.

Supporters of the African National Congress, which has been in government since the end of white minority rule in 1994, gathered at a football stadium in Johannesburg to hear a speech by party leader and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The ANC is under unprecedented pressure to maintain its parliamentary majority in Africa’s most advanced country. After seeing its popularity steadily decline over the past two decades, Wednesday’s election could be a historic moment when the party once led by Nelson Mandela falls below 50% of the national vote for the first time, even if the ‘He’s always expected to get the biggest share. .

Several polls give the ANC less than 50% support, raising the possibility that it will need to form a national coalition. It would also be a first for South Africa’s young democracy, established only 30 years ago with the first multiracial vote officially ending the apartheid system of racial segregation.

As thousands of ANC black, green and gold supporters attended his last major rally before the election, Ramaphosa acknowledged some of the grievances of South Africans, including the high levels of poverty and unemployment which mainly affect the country’s black majority.

“We have a plan to get more South Africans into work,” Ramaphosa said. “Throughout this campaign, among our fellow citizens, in the workplaces, in the streets of our townships and our villages, a large number of our fellow citizens have spoken to us about their difficulties in finding work and meeting their needs. of their family.

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, held a rally in Cape Town, South Africa’s second largest city and its stronghold. Party leader John Steenhuisen gave a speech while blue-clad DA supporters held up blue umbrellas.

“Democrats, my friends, are you ready for change? » said Steenhuisen. The crowd responded “Yes!” »

Even though support for the ANC has declined in three successive national elections and looks set to continue falling, no party has emerged to overtake it – or even challenge it.

But losing its majority would be the clearest rejection yet of the famous party that was at the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement and is credited with leading South Africans to freedom.

Some ANC supporters have also expressed frustration, as the country of 62 million people struggles with poverty, desperately high unemployment, some of the world’s worst levels of inequality and other corruption problems, violent crime and the failure of basic government services in some countries. places.

“We want to see job opportunities coming and a general change in all aspects,” said ANC supporter Ntombizonke Biyela. “Since 1994, we have been waiting for the ANC, it’s been a long time. We have voted and voted, but we see very little progress because people, only a select few seem to benefit.

While acknowledging some failures, the ANC has stressed that South Africa is a much better place than it was during apartheid, when a set of race-based laws oppressed the country’s black majority in favor of a small white minority. The ANC has also been widely credited with successfully expanding its services to millions of poor South Africans in the decade after apartheid, although critics say it has recently lost its way.

“There are a lot of problems in South Africa, but no one can deny the changes that have happened since 1994, and that’s because of the ANC,” said Eric Phoolo, 42, another supporter of the ruling party.

The turn away of some voters from the ANC led to a slow fracturing of South African politics, rather than the birth of a single opposition party. Disgruntled South Africans have turned to different opposition parties, some of which are new. Dozens of parties are registered to run in next week’s elections.

South Africans vote for parties and not directly for their president in national elections. Parties then get seats in Parliament based on their vote share and lawmakers elect the president – ​​which is why losing the ANC majority would affect 71-year-old Ramaphosa’s hopes of being re-elected smoothly for a second and final five-year term. term.

If the ANC falls below 50%, it will likely need a deal with other parties to secure the votes in Parliament to re-elect Ramaphosa, once Mandela’s protégé.

The far-left Economic Freedom Fighters held their last major pre-election rally in the northern city of Polokwane, the birthplace of fiery leader Julius Malema. “The South African people must decide whether they want unemployment,” Malema said.

Former South African president and former ANC leader Jacob Zuma’s new MK party was also campaigning in a township just outside the east coast city of Durban, although Zuma did not attend at the event. Zuma, 82, shook up South African politics when he announced late last year that he was turning his back on the ANC and joining MK, while fiercely criticizing the ANC under Ramaphosa.

Zuma was disqualified as a candidate for Parliament due to a previous criminal conviction, but MK is still allowed to use his image as a leader and he continues to campaign. His daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, attended the rally, where the MP’s supporters chanted: “Run, Ramaphosa, run.”

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Gerald Imray reported from Cape Town and Farai Mutsaka from Durban.

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