South Africa 30 Years on From the First ‘Rainbow Bridge’
| Published date | 01 September 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20419058241282462 |
| Author | Stephen Chan |
| Date | 01 September 2024 |
42POLITICAL INSIGHT•SEPTEMBER 2024
In June, Cyril Ramaphosa was, as
expected, sworn in for a second term as
President of South Africa. What was not
predicted was the election result that
had come a few weeks earlier. Ramaphosa’s
party, the African National Congress (ANC),
had seen its vote share plummet amid
growing voter dissatisfaction and a wave of
corruption scandals. Unable to govern alone,
Ramaphosa was elected President as part of a
new centrist coalition government, the rst in
South Africa’s recent history.
The ANC, the party of Nelson Mandela, has
dominated South African politics since the
rst multi-racial election of 1994 – winning
every ve-yearly election until May. Mandela’s
role in the ANC’s history was crucial. The ANC
was unbanned when Mandela was released
South Africa
30 Years on From the
First ‘Rainbow Bridge’
The African National Congress unexpectedly lost its majority in
May’s South African elections. That result marks the end of the
liberation government era and a coming of age for the country’s
politics, writes Stephen Chan.
from 27 years of imprisonment in 1990. South
Africa’s white minority-controlled Apartheid
system didn’t end immediately. There
followed four years of torturous negotiation
to agree a new constitutional way forward. At
the time, Ramaphosa was the star negotiator
for the ANC.
The constitution that emerged became
the world’s most progressive in terms of the
equalities it enshrined not just of race, but
of gender, even sexual preference – years
ahead of most other countries. But the
settlement also established an electoral
system that was designed to ensure that the
white-dominated National Party of Apartheid
© Xinhua / Alamy Stock Photo
Political Insight September 2024 BU.indd 42Political Insight September 2024 BU.indd 4221/08/2024 16:2421/08/2024 16:24
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