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Bloomberg
Siyabonga Matlala is unequivocal about who he’ll support in South Africa’s May 8 election: the same party he’s backed since apartheid ended a quarter century ago.
“I will always vote African National Congress,†the 49-year-old farm labourer said in Fisantekraal, a shantytown on Cape Town’s outskirts.
The unwavering loyalty of voters like Matlala has underpinned the ANC’s grip on power.
That’s helped it weather a succession of scandals under its former leader, Jacob Zuma, and mounting public anger over rampant unemployment and sub-standard government services. Opinion polls show the party is on course to secure a sixth five-year mandate, although with a marginally smaller share of the vote than the 62 percent it won in 2014.
Analysts at banks ranging from Goldman Sachs to Standard Bank say an ANC win of around 60 percent will give Ramaphosa the support needed to introduce reforms to ignite investment and
economic growth, spurring a rally in the rand, stocks and bonds.