ANC Victory Brings Challenges

　　Before the elections， the international community was widely concernedthat the ANC would see a bigdrop in their percentage of votes.

　　Reasons for this included the slowingdown of the economy， ongoinglabor disputes， a high unemploymentrate， corruption， the great disparitybetween the rich and the poor andalso because it would be the first electionsince independence without theANC’s spiritual leader， Nelson Mandela.Results showed that the ANC won theelections with 62.15 percent of thevote， down slightly from 65.9 percentfive years ago.

　　Reasons for victory

　　First， the ANC has the support of theblack majority， who account for 79.6percent of the population. “The ANCis the political party that led SouthAfricans to overthrow the apartheidsystem，” a street vendor in South Africasaid in an interview with People’s Daily.“We had problems in the past 20 yearsunder the ANC’s rule， but the majoritytrust the ANC. The ANC is closely relatedwith my life and future.” Her viewis representative of many.

　　Second， the opposition parties arerelatively weak. The Helen Zille ledDemocratic Alliance (DA)， the officialopposition at the national level， hasgained an increase in votes in the pastthree elections from 12.37 percent in2004 to 16.66 percent in 2009， and22.23 percent in 2014. It took 50 seatsin the NA in 2004， 67 in 2009 and 89 inthe recent election. But Zille admittedthat DA needed at least 10 yearsto restructure politically and becomestrong enough to contest the ANC’sruling position.

　　Third， the ANC has made obviousachievements in the past 20 years.Since it came to power in 1994， theparty has taken economic developmentand improving people’s livelihoodsas the priority of the government’swork， putting forward theReconstruction and Development Program(RDP)， Growth， Employment andRedistribution (GEAR)， Black EconomicEmpowerment (BEE)， Acceleratedand Shared Growth Initiative of SouthAfrica (ASGISA) and other plans toimprove the economic status of blackSouth Africans and realize an inclusivedevelopment. Since President JacobZuma took office in 2009， he has putjob creation high on the government’slist of priorities. In November 2010， theSouth African Government initiatedThe New Growth： the Framework，which aimed to create 5 million jobs inthe coming 10 years and reduce theunemployment rate to 15 percent fromthe present 25 percent.

　　With the efforts of this and previousgovernments， by 2012， 3.5 million jobshad been created， and annual percapitaincome has increased to 38，500Rands ($3，720) in 2012 from 27，500Rands ($2，657) in 1993. During thisperiod， the average wage in the miningand manufacturing sectors had experienceda 150-percent increase. PresidentZuma said that South Africa has a goodstory to tell in the past 20 years of itsdemocracy， but it has not been easy.In addition， being a member of BRICShas further enhanced South Africa’scooperation with emerging economiesand raised its international status.

　　Challenges ahead

　　The winning ANC has to face severalchallenges in its next five-year term.

　　Developing the economy andimproving people’s livelihood is a longtermand arduous task. This is especiallytrue for a middle-income country likeSouth Africa， where high labor costsmake it lack a competitive edge inthe international market. Though theapartheid system has been abolishedfor 20 years， many black South Africansare still suffering from poverty and highunemployment. To address the sharpcontradictions between the long-termtask and the urgent needs of the people，the South African Government in2011 put forward the National DevelopmentPlan (NDP) - Vision for 2030 toseek to eliminate poverty and reduceinequality in two decades. Accordingto the plan， South Africa’s economy willrealize an annual growth of 5.4 percentand 11 million job opportunities will becreated in the next 20 years. By 2030，the unemployment rate is projectedto be reduced to 6 percent from thepresent 25 percent and the Gini coefficientwill be reduced to 0.6 from thepresent 0.7.

　　However， to sustain an average of 5.4percent economic growth is not an easytask. In 2011， South Africa’s economicgrowth rate was 3.1 percent and it wasaround 2 percent in 2012 and 2013.

　　The decline in votes for the ANC atthe recent elections has something todo with the slowed economy. Accordingto the constitution of South Africa，it needs the approval of over two thirdsof NA members to have articles in theconstitution amended. To play a dominantrole in national development andgovernance of the country， the ANC hasto keep its support rate over 66 percent.

　　How to balance the interests of allparties and realize an inclusive growth isanother challenge. In the anti-apartheidstruggle and in the general elections，the ANC had strong support from theSouth African Communist Party (SACP)and Congress of South African TradeUnions (COSATU)， forming a tripartitealliance.

　　To develop the economy， the ANCencourages foreign investment， protectsforeign capital and has adopteda prudent attitude toward land reform.But these policies were criticized byCOSATU and SACP.

　　Participating for the first time， thefar-left Economic Freedom Fighters won6.35 percent of the vote， 25 seats in theNA and became the main oppositionparty in two of the nine provinces. Thisindicates that it has a special rallyingpoint among black youth.

　　If the ANC adopts more radicalpolicies under pressure， it can win oversome voters in the short term， but itmay scare away investors and this willnot be conducive to economic growthand reconciliation in the long term.Corruption is also a perennial problemthat South Africa has to tackle. However，if the ANC continues to develop theeconomy， improve people’s livelihoods，fully implement the NDP and continueits multi-faceted diplomacy， South Africawill surely have a better future.

　　South Africa is China’s largest tradepartner in Africa. In 2013， bilateral tradereached $65.1 billion. The bilateralrelations have advanced to a comprehensivestrategic partnership since2010. Both China and South Africa aremembers of the G20 and BRICS， andthe Sixth Ministerial Conference of theForum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)will be held in South Africa in 2015.The ANC’s victory in the elections andPresident Zuma’s successful re-electionto a second term， will further promotethe continued growth of the comprehensivestrategic partnership of the twocountries.

关注读览天下微信， 100万篇深度好文， 等你来看……