Policy Backgrounders

South Africa's Election

June 27, 2024

Trusted Insights for What’s Ahead™

In South Africa’s recent election, the African National Congress (ANC) lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in the 30 years since the end of apartheid rule. The result was a testament to South Africans’ discontent, driven by the country’s high unemployment rate, worsening economic inequality, heightened violent crime, corruption, and the failing power grid. President Cyril Ramaphosa of the ANC will now lead the nation’s first coalition government in its democratic history alongside the pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) which placed second in the election, rather than combining with left-wing parties.

• International investors favored the ANC-DA coalition, as President Ramaphosa is expected to continue pushing for policies allowing the private sector to generate renewable energy.
• South Africa’s rand strengthened to a near 11-month high of 17.9200 against the dollar on June 19, the day of Ramaphosa’s inauguration. Ramaphosa is expected to make his cabinet appointments in the coming days.
• South Africa has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world. The country’s murder rate sits at a twenty-year high of 45 per 100,000 people in 2022/23, the highest in 20 years. This figure is roughly equivalent to that of Ecuador’s and higher than Honduras.