Elections will begin in South
Africa later today (May 8) as voters elect lawmakers in a process that will
ultimately lead to the choosing of a president by the next National Assembly.
The vote is the sixth
since the end of apartheid in 1994 and the adoption of democracy. On the same
day there will be elections for provincial legislatures across the country.
South Africa has nine
provinces which are: Limpopo, Guateng, Free State, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape,
Western Cape, Kwa-Zulu Natal, North West and Mpumalanga provinces.
There are a number of
issues likely to weigh strongly on today’s vote according to political and
elections analysts: The land question and housing, corruption, education and
jobs.
The issue of land has
been topical through the years but more prominently this year when the
expropriation of land engaged lawmakers in fierce exchanges.
As it stands now, the
parliament voted to expropriate land without compensation with the ruling ANC
and leftist EFF voting strongly in favour whiles the main opposition DA
rejected the motion.
South Africa, one of
the continent’s most industrialized nations, continues to suffer the scourge of
corruption which was key in the move to oust former president Jacob Zuma ahead
of the polls. There is currently a commission looking into high-level
corruption under the Zuma administration.
Unemployment has been
an issue which President Ramaphosa has pledged to actively combat in his first
substantive term if the ANC gets the mandate to continue.
No comments:
Post a Comment