South Africans are gearing up for watershed general elections on May 29 that could see the ruling African National Congress (ANC) fail to clinch a majority for the first time in 30 years.
Some 28 million registered voters across nine provinces will troop out to vote for representatives to national and provincial parliaments. In turn, the winning parties will then name a president and cabinet.
The results of the vote are uncertain owing to the ANC’s shaky footing. Among the biggest issues at stake in Africa’s most advanced economy are especially high unemployment records, violent crime, deteriorating public infrastructure, and stark economic inequality.
The country’s polls are more about the parties, but several personalities dominate the election discourse. Here are 10 of the most important people to know:
1. Cyril Ramaphosa
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa waves to supporters of his ANC party during an election campaign in Kwaximba on April 20, 2024 [File: Rajesh Jantilal/AFP]
Current South African president and head of the ANC, Ramaphosa is gunning for his second and final election although his party’s standing is set to prove his biggest challenge.
The 71-year-old from Soweto was part of the premier Nelson Mandela-led ANC class that wrested South Africa from the apartheid government in 1994. He was hoping to succeed Mandela as president but when that didn’t happen, Ramaphosa left politics in 1996, going on to become a wildly successful businessman, dabbling in sectors from mining to food, and owning the McDonald’s franchise at one point. He returned to become deputy president in 2014 and then took over the presidency after former President Jacob Zuma was forced to step down in 2018.
Although seen as more level-headed than Zuma, Ramaphosa has suffered his share of image-denting scandals in office, most notably the 2022 Phala Phala debacle when he was accused of hiding $4m in laundered cash in his farmhouse.
But it’s the stubborn…
Original from www.aljazeera.com