Democracy is meant to be a system in which political parties compete to convince the people that they have answers to their most pressing problems. South Africa’s election campaign shows that it does not always operate that way.
The national and provincial elections on 8 May, in which the governing African National Congress (ANC) is hoping to end a decline in its support, is loud and hard-fought. But there is little connection between the problems facing South Africans and the issues over which the campaign is being fought.
South Africa’s core problem is a weak economy which is unable to grow at a rate which preserves people’s living standards. This is a consequence of deeply rooted problems, hold-overs of the country’s minority-ruled past which persist despite 25 years of democracy.
One such hold-over is the exclusion of millions of people from the economy’s benefits. Many South Africans don’t earn a wage or salary because the formal job market is closed to them.
Neither government policy nor business practice have found ways to ensure that they can earn a living and contribute to the economy even if they have no formal job. This reduces both the talents available in the mainstream economy and the markets into which businesses can sell their products.