Insights
A New Era in South Africa
|
Tales From the Emerging World
|
• |
August 07, 2024
|
August 07, 2024
|
A New Era in South Africa |
In a remarkable twist of events, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa turned a potentially career-ending electoral defeat into a victory that may reshape the nation’s political and economic landscape. In the country’s recent general election, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in three decades. The party that had led the country since Nelson Mandela’s historic presidency in 1994 saw its support fall from around 58% in 2019 to a mere 40%. While the markets feared an ANC loss would lead to a coalition with anti-market parties on the left, the loss was so large it forced the ANC to form a government with the reform-oriented Democratic Alliance (DA) instead. Ironically, the larger-than-expected setback led to a more market-friendly outcome. How did we get here?