Hartford: A coalition’s toughest post-election challenge – the ANC-bloated State

Cyril Ramaphosa delivered an animated speech at Mbombela stadium to kickstart the ANC's election campaign, emphasising the party's intent to secure a majority without forming coalitions. Sceptics think the ANC will struggle to achieve this. A victorious coalition, however, faces the monumental task of steering a State entrenched in 30 years of ANC rule, with excessive VIP protection spending and public servant wage imbalances just the start. With over 700 state-owned enterprises and almost 20m dependent on State grants, any post-election government will have to navigate and presumably untangle a complex web of ANC-influenced systems.

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By Dirk Hartford

Cyril Ramaphosa's unusually animated, backwards-looking speech in Mpumulanga on Saturday launching the ANC's election campaign is a good place to press pause and look at what the victor in this year's election will inherit and have to deal with.

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