SUMMARY:

With only a few days to go before the May 8 general election, all South Africa’s political parties were in a final push to woo citizens. Among those visiting KwaZulu-Natal were President Cyril Ramaphosa, former president Jacob Zuma and former deputy president Kgalema Mothlanthe.

As expected, the elections were won by the ANC, although the official results – which saw the party down to a 57% share of the votes from 62% in the 2014 elections – underlined the huge task which faces President Cyril Ramaphosa as he tries to push through his reformist agenda. For their part, the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, failed to make any gains while the radical Left, Economic Freedom Front, led by firebrand Julius Malema, was in third place – up four per cent from 2014. Reflecting a world-wide growth in nationalism, the Afrikaner-rights FF+ and the Zulu-orientated IFP also made substantial gains.

With the elections over, speculation next turned to what changes President Ramaphosa would make to his cabinet and whether he would cut the number of Ministries. Hopes were also expressed that he would use the pending cabinet reshuffle as an excuse to get rid of some of his more controversial ministers such as Bathabile Dlamini and Nomvula Mukonyane.

Cyril Ramaphosa was duly elected unopposed as president by the National Assembly. In a unifying speech in Parliament he promised to be “a President for all South Africans and not just the African National Congress”.

His message of inclusivity was not, unfortunately, picked up by all members of the party. In his inaugural address to the provincial legislature, the newly appointed premier of KZ-N, Sihle Zikalala, declined to pay tribute to the new official opposition, the IFP, by neglecting to mention that party’s previous premiers when he praised previous ANC premiers..

On the 29^th May, President Cyril Ramaphosa finally announced his new cabinet in the process downsizing his number of ministers from 35 under Zuma to 28.The big surprise was his appointment of Good Party leader, Patricia de Lille, who had quit the DA after months of acrimony, as Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure.

Underlining the huge problems facing Ramaphosa, was the news that South Africa’s economy had shrunk by more than three percent in the first quarter of 2019 – as load-shedding, a strike on the gold mines and a dire lack of investment hit growth. In KZN there was another fiery weekend on the roads with 17 truck-and-rigs being torched on the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban. To date over 200 people have been killed, 1400 vehicles damaged and R1,2billion lost as result of these ongoing incidents – losses the country can ill-afford with its economy under huge economic strain.

The divisions within the ANC once again came under the spotlight when it was announced that the ANC would launch a probe, chaired by Kgalema Mothlanthe, in to claims that its Secretary-General, Ace Magashule, was involved in the formation of the African Transformation Movement (ATM) – a rival political party – ahead of the previous month’s election. Former President Jacob Zuma’s confidante, Bishop Timothy Ngobo, who had aggressively campaigned for the new party, to which Zuma had also been linked, immediately rubbished the probe as being a “witch-hunt”.

Delivering his State of the Nation (SONA) speech in parliament, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a number of measures to grow the economy, tackle poverty and unemployment and fight corruption. Whether the ambitious targets he set – such as halving violent crime in the next 10-years and creating two million jobs for youth over the same period – are achievable remains to be seen.

The following week, his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, confirmed he would testify before the Zondo Commission in to State Capture even though he believed it is “prejudiced” against him and “lacks requisite impartiality”. According to his lawyer the former president “can’t wait to attend…he is relishing the moment.”

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