Some economists have warned that unless South Africa puts its economic house in order soon, it faces the possibility of an investment downgrade.
When Nelson Mandela came to power in 1994, he faced the challenge of uniting a nation divided by apartheid and healing an economy shattered by sanctions and mismanagement.
He listed and deeply analysed the following issues: low economic growth; hostile broader economic policy framework; poor education; low skill level, and labour policy as key drivers of unemployment.
Twenty-five years after the African National Congress ended apartheid, it faces being brought down by an increasingly young and urbanized electorate.
“The wrestling match over the ANC tiller is now essentially between a hard-left faction and aggressive racial nationalist faction all under the supervision of a captain who cannot break the deadlock or inspire a third way,” the Johannesburg-based Centre for Risk Analysis said in a report it gives to clients. Ramaphosa “believes, fatally in our view, that maintaining unity among the crew is a priority,” it said.
According to the 2019 Socio-Economic Survey published by the Centre for Risk Analysis, a policy research institute, the number of regular houses in SA has increased by a quarter since 1996. The number of people with access to electricity went up by 61%, and access to flushing toilets rose 30%.