South Africans voted in national and local elections on May 29, exactly one year after Nigeria inaugurated its current president. Since 1994, this election has been the most significant post-apartheid election and the most unpredictable in the country’s 30 years of democratic rule. The ruling African National Congress lost its parliament majority for the first time, possibly paving the way for the country’s first coalition government.
These issues played on the minds of many of the voters, who are predominantly young and black people and are a bit distanced from the Apartheid politics of freedom and liberation that helped ANC dominate the political space in South Africa. Although ANC won most parliamentary seats, it increasingly requires forming a coalition government because it is not getting the dominance of yesteryears in the political space.
The second implication is that the more the economy becomes the centre stage of political rhetoric and discussion, the more efficient management of the economy becomes the dominant political agenda. This is good for African politics. African nations need better economic managers now more than at any other time in their history.
South Africa has gone to the polls, and Nigeria must learn many lessons from them. First, the elections were free, fair, and well-organised, with citizens disciplined. Even when there were minor hitches, it did not undermine the integrity of the electoral process. In contrast, elections in Nigeria are always overly the opposite. The elections are not primarily free and fair because of many irregularities, which are too many to elucidate here.