A worse life for all in South Africa
The ANC has promised “a better life for all” in South Africa. However, over the last seventeen years, life has become much harder for people living in the country.
The ANC’s 1994 National Election Manifesto stated that South Africa’s first democratic elections were about our common yearning for freedom, peace, and a better life for all.
“Together as South Africans – men and women of all colours, young and old, urban and rural – we have the power to build a better life for all,” it said.
Former President Thabo Mbeki became synonymous with the term “a better life for all” and has repeated it numerous times as South Africa’s leader.
In the first fourteen years of democracy, under former President Nelson Mandela and then Mbeki, the lives of most South Africans improved.
Numerous successful initiatives built houses, brought electricity and water to millions of citizens, and invested in infrastructure.
Frans Cronje, the head of the Social Research Foundation, said the ANC’s first decade in power enhanced living standards and economic stability.
During Mandela and Mbeki’s presidencies, South Africa’s economy experienced significant growth. The government consistently ran budget surpluses, and the economy grew at an annual rate of 4.1%.
The percentage of households without electricity dropped sharply from 49% in 1996 to 19% in 2006, while the number of employed people almost doubled from 7.48 million to 14.5 million.
However, this trend slowed down when President Jacob Zuma took office in 2009, and by the end of his tenure in 2018, living standards had started to decline.
This decline is closely linked to the country’s poor economic performance since the 2007/08 financial year.
As a result, South Africa’s robust GDP growth during Mbeki’s tenure came to a halt, and the country’s debt escalated rapidly.
Despite the President and Finance Minister’s promises of fiscal discipline, this trend continued during Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency.
Load-shedding became a regular part of life, Transnet collapsed, crime reached record levels, and trust in the state continued to drop.
Many municipalities collapsed, leaving households without basic services such as electricity, water, and refuse removal.
Even in many of South Africa’s largest cities, including Johannesburg and Pretoria, potholes are commonplace, traffic lights are often non-functional, and infrastructure is deteriorating.
Professor Bheki Mngomezulu, a Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy at Nelson Mandela University, said a better life for all remains a pipedream.
The data shows that South Africa is moving backwards
South Africa’s economic data show that life has become much tougher for South Africans under Presidents Zuma and Ramaphosa.
Unemployment rates increased, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, a measure of living standards, decreased.
The value of the rand against the US Dollar, the world’s reserve currency, plummeted. This is a bad sign for any economy.
Arturo Bris, Director of the World Competitiveness Centre (WCC), said strong currencies are emerging as an indicator of long-term success.
The continued rand weakness is, therefore, a bad sign for South Africa’s long-term success and the improvement of its citizens’ economic conditions.
The charts below display key economic indicators regarding South Africa’s performance under Presidents Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa.
Value of the rand
Real GDP per Capita
Employment rate
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