South Africa marks Freedom Day ahead of tense election

South Africa on Saturday marks Freedom Day – 30 years since the first multiracial elections and the emergence of democracy after 46 years of apartheid. However the country faces a myriad of economic challenges which will be at the heart of elections next month.

Freedom Day is a public holiday in South Africa and is celebrated on 27 April, the same day Nelson Mandela from the African National Congress (ANC) was elected in 1994.

It commemorates the day the new constitution was introduced, affording all South Africans equal rights, abolishing the racially discriminative system of apartheid.

It is a day where the "unsung heroes and heroines who fought for freedom and paved the way for an equal, representative, non-racial nation" are honoured, the government said in a statement.

List of improvements

President Cyril Ramaphosa touted South Africa's achievements under his party's leadership on Saturday just a month before its most consequential election in decades.

"South Africa today is an infinitely better place than it was 30 years ago," Ramaphosa said in a speech marking "Freedom Day" at the Union Buildings, the seat of government, in Pretoria.

The 71-year-old used the occasion to list improvements shepherded by the ANC, which is struggling in the polls and risks losing its outright parliamentary majority for the first time.

"We have pursued land reform, distributing millions of hectares of land to those who had been forcibly dispossessed," he said.

"We have built houses, clinics, hospitals, roads and constructed bridges, dams, and many other facilities. We have brought electricity, water and sanitation to millions of South African homes."

An Ipsos poll released on Friday showed support for the ruling party, which won more than 57 percent of the vote at the last national elections in 2019, has fallen to just over 40 percent.

The party's image has been badly hurt by accusations of graft and its inability to effectively tackle poverty, crime, inequality, and unemployment, which remain staggeringly high.

Ramaphosa acknowledged the problems, but denounced critics as people who wilfully "shut their eyes".

"We have made much progress and we are determined to do much more," he said.

Coalition on the cards

For the first time since it came into power in 1994, polls are indicating that the ANC party might receive less than 50 percent of the national vote, which would see it losing power if it does not manage to form a coalition with some smaller parties.

On 13 April, the organisation Defend Our Democracy, held a conference in Johannesburg to discuss the best way to approach possible future negotiations if the ANC does not win an outright majority.

One of the representatives of the Action SA party, Michael Beaumont, spoke to RFI's correspondent in Johannesburg.

"I think we have to be careful not to develop a 'Stockholm syndrome' with regard to the idea of stability," he said, "because, in fact, [the] creative tensions of a coalition can be something to celebrate."

Meanwhile, one of the main challenges for parties will be to convince young voters to participate in democracy again, as their parents did with the end of apartheid.

"The majority of youth don't vote; they are disappointed," a citizen named Vote Ubisi told news agency Reuters. He considers himself lucky to have a part-time job as a waiter at a safari lodge.

Ubisi was born on 27 April 1994, in a poor village in Mpumalanga province, and his parents named him after a historic day.

He still plans to cast his ballot in May, although he declined to say which party he would vote for.

"You vote for the party that can bring some contribution to the community. That's what I'm looking for," he said. "We need the change."

From progress to decline

South Africa's economic development in the last 30 years can be divided into two periods, according to the economist Azar Jammine.

The period before the presidency of the ANC's Jacob Zuma (2009 - 2018), and the period under Zuma.

"The first fifteen years were quite a success," Jammine told RFI.

"The country experienced an average growth of three percent per year between 1994 and 2001. Then, almost five percent per year between 2001 and 2007. It coincided with a boom in commodity prices."

Isobel Frye, director of the Social Policy Initiative (SPI) think tank, explained to RFI that under apartheid, black communities could hardly own land.

"The same for small businesses. People were proletarianised and dependent on their salaries. And wages, for those who are employed, and especially for semi- or low-skilled jobs, are very low. So the introduction of a minimum wage is one of the successes of the ANC," she said.

South Africa's social benefit system is also among the most developed on the continent, and a lifeline for the poorest. Almost 30 percent of the population benefits from it, not counting the post-Covid aid still distributed.

Despite progress, South Africa remains one of the most unequal countries in the world, according to the Gini index.

From 2012, its economy made very little progress, with a significant decline in growth, Jammine notes.

The "rainbow nation" envisioned by Mandela is nowadays afflicted by poverty, inequality, corruption and crime.

 (with newswires)