This is more than a fad or a protest vote. “It’s quite an achievement,” says Shah “considering they were only formed recently and are contesting their first election. In addition, the EFF won 10 per cent of the vote in the industrial heartland of Gauteng. That will be enough to ensure Malema takes up a seat in parliament. The EFF, founded by controversial former ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, became the third biggest party in the country with more than 6 per cent of the vote. The party did, however, hold on to Western Cape province with almost 60 per cent of the vote. “There will be more strikes which will drag down on growth in the mining sector and the wider economy.”Īccording to Shah, business leaders would be disappointed that the pro-business Democratic Alliance failed to win 25 per cent of the vote, which most polls suggested they would achieve. “A lot more needs to be done,” says Shah. This may mean, Shah said, that strikes affecting the platinum mines will “probably drag on”. Pressure on the ANC to review its traditional alliance with trade unions and reform the labour market more widely appears to have abated following the ANC’s strong showing. “Growth will continue to creep along at between 2 and 2.5 per cent, which won’t make much of a dent in unemployment levels.” “The result is not a crisis for the country, but it is difficult to see where any additional growth will come from,” he added. There will be no push to make difficult economic reforms.” Because they did not drop below they key threshold of 60 per cent, there will not be much impetus for the party to reform itself. “This means that it will be more of the same as far as policy is concerned. “They performed better than expected,” says Shilan Shah, Africa Economist at Capital Economics. With 98 per cent of the vote counted, the ANC had garnered 62 per cent, while the Democratic Alliance took 22 per cent and a new radical party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), took 6 per cent.Īhead of the poll, analysts had said that if the ANC’s share fell to below 60 per cent – down from the 66 per cent the party won during the last general election – it would have been interpreted as a call for key economic reforms. The convincing nature of the African National Congress’ (ANC) victory in South Africa’s general election is likely to ease pressure for difficult yet necessary reforms to the country’s economy and labour markets, analysts said on Friday. Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

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