How world sees SA: ANC too powerful to lose power, but will lose support – FT

EDINBURGH — The world spotlight is on South African elections, with speculation about how the many small parties will eat into the ANC's power base. The message from the Financial Times, whose journalists interviewed South Africans, is that the ANC will maintain power but it will lose support. This is because voters have lost hope in the ANC delivering a new dawn. Four working-age adults are unemployed for every six who have a job. Instead of South Africa transforming into a tiger-style nation with high growth and rising standards of living, the country's economic engine has stuttered – which in turn suggests high unemployment will remain a significant feature for the foreseeable future. The upshot is that South Africans can vote but many don't see the point. – Jackie Cameron

By Thulasizwe Sithole

The ANC has failed to transform the lives of the black majority after 25 years in power, with a growing despondency over the ANC, reports the Financial Times.

"When South Africans head to the polls on May 8, more than a third of working-age voters, nearly all of them black, will not have a job. For 20m young people who came of age under the ANC, unemployment is even higher. Africa's most industrialised economy has failed to grow faster than the population. The official unemployment figure is put at 27% but the figure rises to 37% if those who have given up looking for work are taken into account," it points out.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___