South Africa: Current Developments and U.S. Relations V. 1

1 1 (February 15, 2018)

$handle is hein.crs/govcguz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: &~ ~ riE SE ~$rCh &~ ~ ~ Updated February 15, 2018 South Africa: Current Developments and U.S. Relations On February 14, 2018, South Africa's second term president, Jacob Zuma, resigned-after defying an order by the executive committee of the governing African National Congress (ANC) that he do so, and in the face of a threatened no-confidence vote in parliament. The parliament then elected as national president Cyril Ramaphosa, then national vice president, whom the ANC had chosen to succeed Zuma as its party leader in late 2017, ahead of general elections in 2019. Zuma's departure came after years of pressure on him to step down, spurred by chronic corruption scandals and weak economic growth under his tenure. It also capped an effort by Ramaphosa, in the face of an intra-ANC split between pro- and anti-Zuma wings, to immediately succeed Zuma. cou ra.y South Africa, which became a multiracial democracy in 1994, is influential in Africa, due to its size, resources, and investment and political engagement across the region-but suffers from deep internal socioeconomic divisions. There has been progress toward racial equality since the first all- race election in 1994, which marked the end of apartheid, a system of legalized racial discrimination favoring the white minority. The deep inequality and poverty apartheid created, however, endures-despite diverse efforts by the ANC to redress its effects. Inequality continues to be borne primarily by the black majority, 80% of the population, which suffers high unemployment, low incomes (about 1/6 that of whites), and the lowest rates of education. South Africa has the third largest and most industrialized economy in Africa, and is a major mineral producer, but years of anemic economic growth have hampered efforts to reduce poverty and income inequality. Despite massive investments in housing, social services, education, and infrastructure, public service quality has often been poor, spurring many protests. Some have been violent, as have some strikes by miners and mass student protests over higher education costs. Violent crime is also a key problem. Broader challenges to social cohesion, often tied to socioeconomic marginalization and resentment among the poor, are reflected in periodic xenophobic attacks on African immigrants and their businesses, attacks on white farmers, and widespread de facto racial segregation. Many poor blacks and mixed race coloureds live in informal housing in townships, while the wealthy often live in highly secured, gated communities. A final key challenge is the high HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate (18.9% in 2016). Since 1994, the ANC has held a parliamentary majority and, as parliament elects the president, controlled the executive branch. The party won 249 of 400 seats (62.3%) in general elections in 2014, after which the parliament reelected Zuma to a second five-year term as president. Widespread criticism of Zuma's leadership, however, had increasingly appeared to be undermining popular support for the ANC, despite its historic anti-apartheid role. This generated increasing concern within the ANC over the electoral implications of Zuma's continued leadership. Tied to this was what some observers called a crisis of expectations, in which the state has been seen as inadequately addressing post-apartheid public demands for rapid socioeconomic transformation. As a result, opposition parties have made steady electoral gains. The Democratic Alliance (DA) holds 89 seats and the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) 25 seats. The EFF's rise has been rapid; formed in 2013 by Julius Malema, a former dissident ANC youth leader, it is now the third largest party in parliament. It often harshly criticized Zuma and repeatedly disrupted his parliamentary addresses. Ramaphosa's swearing-in ends questions over whether Zuma might have remained national president until general elections in 2019 (as constitutional term limits would have permitted), and may open the way to Zuna's prosecution on corruption charges (see below). Ramaphosa, whose election has been widely welcomed, has pledged to address corruption and the faltering economy, and other key challenges. Zuma's departure ushers in an end to a series of high-profile state corruption controversies and alleged commercial favoritism under his tenure, which had spurred fierce intra-ANC and inter-party political competition and harsh criticism of his leadership. .. . . . . . . . . . ....... e r , . ,¢ . o.................................................. ...............................:: Populativnf S9~lk GDP/ GDP per capita/Ge owthl Unemployment current/extended (current plus discouraged wrs thah had violaed offie woitubsatial politfical agay binding finding by former Public Protector Thul Madonsela, requiring him to pay for some of the cost. Madonsela repeatedly used her post, akin to a state ombudsman, to probe malfeasance under Zurna's tenure and was seen as a key check on his exercise of state power. The opposition DA then used her ruling as a basis for an unsuccessful attempt to impeach Zuma. A High Court also ordered the National Prosecuting Authority to review its h ti: ';/< %. g o!t.-. o i .<' < mppm qq\ p\w gn'a', ggmm a 'S I 11LULANJILiN,$

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