South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (C) and leader of the African National Congress is swarmed by the press Wednesday after casting his vote at the Hitekani Primary School in Soweto township, as he bids for a second five-year term. Under the country's parliamentary system, the party or parties with the most seats in the National Assembly form a government with MPs duly electing the party leader to the presidency. Photo by EPA-EFE
May 29 (UPI) -- Voting got underway in South Africa on Wednesday in a general election that is being seen as a watershed moment that could see the African National Congress lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid 30 years ago.
The party's failure to deliver on the promise of improving the lives of the Black majority population with almost a third of people unemployed, huge income inequality, soaring crime, corruption scandals and regular power outages will be a major test of voters' enduring loyalty to the current ANC administration of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The ANC's 230 seats won 57.5% of the vote in 2019 delivering it a strong 60-seat majority over all other parties combined -- but its share of the vote has been declining with the result in the last election the first time it has fallen below 60%.
Around 27 million people are registered to vote but turnout is expected to be down from 65% of the electorate in 2019, with many staying away, disillusioned with the choices on offer.
The leading opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, has forged a coalition pact with 10 other parties to form a government if they are able to win a combined majority in the 400 seat National Assembly.
However, other mainstream parties including Economic Freedom Fighters, Inkatha Freedom Party and former President Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe together with more than 40 smaller parties present a multitude of alternative coalition permutations.
The ANC's predominant position in the decades since the end of White-minority rule in 1994 is due mainly to a moral authority imbued by the freedom struggle it led and international recognition as a liberation movement before it came to power, boosted by having Nelson Mandela at its helm.
The status quo began to shift in 2016 as the ANC entered its third decade in power with slight changes in local government allegiances and severe reputational damage during and after Zuma's two terms from a slew of corruption scandals that led to his resignation in Feb. 2018.
The Panama Papers in 2016 linked him to the Democratic Republic of Congo oil exploration over a $5 billion deal involving a company owned by his nephew.
Zuma was also forced to apologize after he was found to have violated the constitution by ignoring demands to repay $20 million in government funds spent on improving his private residence, including a pool and amphitheater.
Zuma has thus far only ever been convicted of contempt of court for defying a court order to testify on corruption charges, serving two months of a 15-month sentence before being freed on medical parole in Sept. 2021.
The Constitutional Court last week disqualified Zuma from running for parliament or provincial office over that conviction.
Earlier this month, a court set a trial date of April next year on corruption charges dating back to 2005 related to allegations he received bribes from a French arms contractor as part of a multi-billion dollar arms procurement program in the late 1990s.
