African National Congress - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

South Africa’s security forces once brutally entrenched apartheid. It’s been a rocky road to reform

ONE of the important tasks that faced South Africa’s democratic government after 1994 was to reform the apartheid-era security apparatus. The African National Congress (ANC), which was voted into power, had a laudable vision in the 1990s for reforming the police, military and intelligence services. Determined that South Africans would never again be subject to the brutality of the security forces, it ensured that the core principles it stood for were written into the country’s democratic constitution. Putting the vision and principles into practice, however, has not been easy, and fraught with setbacks. Over time, the abuse of power, a…

Apr

2024

By MARK SWILLING

South Africa’s electricity crisis: a series of failures over 30 years have left a dim legacy

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

IN 1994, apartheid ended and the African National Congress (ANC) won South Africa’s first-ever democratic elections, promising “Electricity for All” as part of its Reconstruction and Development Programme. Back then only 36% of all South Africans had electricity in their homes. The development programme promised to double that number by electrifying an additional 2.5 million homes by 2000. This seemed achievable – during the 1980s, the state-owned power utility Eskom’s build programme was so aggressive it had surplus electricity. Some power stations even had to be mothballed. By 1994, South Africa’s coal industry was generating high-quality coal which was exported…

Apr

2024

By SIYABONGA SISHI and BHARGAV ACHARYA

S.African parliament ex-speaker charged with graft, granted bail

NEWS

SOUTH African prosecutors charged former National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula with corruption and money laundering, a day after she resigned following an inquiry into alleged graft during her time as defence minister. She was granted bail by a court in the capital Pretoria shortly after the charges were made public. Mapisa-Nqakula has denied any wrongdoing. Mapisa-Nqakula, 67, whose residence was raided by investigators last month as part of the inquiry, had also resigned as a member of the parliament on Wednesday. Lead prosecutor Bheki Manyathi told the Pretoria Magistrate's Court that Mapisa-Nqakula was being charged with 12 counts of corruption and one of money…

Mar

2024

By HARTMUT WINKLER

South Africa’s electricity crisis: what political parties say in their election manifestos about solving it

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

SOUTH Africa is in the middle of a deep electricity crisis. In 2023 the public, many of whom are voters, experienced the worst load-shedding to date, losing power for an average of five hours a day. The power shortages were largely due to excessive breakdowns in the country’s coal power plant fleet, which generates over 80% of South Africa’s electricity, combined with delays in developing new generation capacity. The power crisis is a key election topic with national elections scheduled for 29 May. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) is tipped to lose its absolute majority in parliament. One reason…

Mar

2024

By TIM COCKS and NELLIE PEYTON

South Africa’s main opposition party not ruling out deal with ANC

NEWS

SOUTH Africa's second most popular party the Democratic Alliance (DA) would not rule out a deal with the ruling African National Congress should the ANC fail to get the majority it needs to retain power in May elections, its leader said. Pollsters expect the ANC to lose its legislative majority on May 29 for the first time since Nelson Mandela took power at the end of apartheid 30 years ago, with voters unhappy with poor service delivery, joblessness, crime and power cuts. If that happens, President Cyril Ramaphosa or a successor for the top job would be unable to stay on without…

Mar

2024

By OLIVIA KUMWENDA-MTAMBO and NELLIE PEYTON

South Africa’s ANC wary of post-election coalition, says it ‘won’t work’

NEWS

SOUTH Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party is betting on retaining its parliamentary majority in a May election and is not in talks with other parties on a possible coalition government, the party's deputy secretary general said. South Africans will go to polls on May 29 to elect a new National Assembly, which will then choose the next president. "We will not go to war having accepted defeat. We are going to war to win," ANC veteran Nomvula Mokonyane told Reuters in an interview, adding that the party was aware that "stakes are high because not everybody is comfortable…

Mar

2024

By OLIVIA KUMWENDA-MTAMBO

South Africa’s ANC likely to lose parliamentary majority in May vote, survey shows

NEWS

SOUTH Africa's African National Congress (ANC) is likely to lose its parliamentary majority in May for the first time since Nelson Mandela led it to power at the fall of apartheid 30 years ago, a survey showed, opening up the prospect of coalition rule. South Africans go to polls on May 29 to elect a new National Assembly, which will then choose the next president. A survey of voter opinion in February by Johannesburg-based think tank The Brenthurst Foundation and the SABI Strategy Group estimated support for the ANC at 39%, down from 41% in October and 44% in November…

Feb

2024

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s governing ANC promises ‘better life’ at manifesto launch

NEWS

SOUTH Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa said that his party, the African National Congress (ANC), would build on the successes of the last three decades and work to resolve the country's challenges of high unemployment, crime and poverty should it win decisively at the polls. Ramaphosa outlined his party's six priority areas at its election manifesto launch in Durban, a coastal city in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal. Recent polls suggest the ANC is at risk of losing its parliamentary majority in the May 29 election for the first time since Nelson Mandela led the country through its first democratic elections at…

Feb

2024

By ANAIT MIRIDZHANIAN

South Africa to hold national and provincial elections on May 29

NEWS

SOUTH Africa will hold national and provincial elections on May 29, President Cyril Ramaphosa's office said. The elections are expected to be the most competitive since the end of the apartheid system. Political analysts widely predict that the governing African National Congress (ANC) party will lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994, with record power cuts, poor service delivery and high levels of unemployment among voter complaints. South Africans will elect a new National Assembly as well as the provincial legislature in each of the country's nine provinces before the National Assembly elects the president. Ramaphosa, 71,…

Feb

2024

By THOKO SIPUNGU

Women in South Africa’s armed struggle: new book records history at first hand

LITERATURE

SOUTH Africa’s young democracy was a culmination of years of sweat, blood and revolution against the apartheid regime. In the early 1960s, after decades of “non-violence” as a policy of resistance, the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) formed military wings to take the fight to the apartheid regime. THOKO SIPUNGU, Lecturer in Sociology, Rhodes University Based on the living record and popular discourse, it would be easy to assume that the struggle against apartheid was almost entirely the domain of men. But women played a crucial role – one which is only really coming to light…