in World News Johannesburg’s Opposition Government Collapses; Racist Marxist Party Could Govern South Africa
Joel B. Pollak
The city of Johannesburg, South Africa, which had been governed by an opposition coalition since municipal elections last year, saw its government collapse over the weekend, a sign that the country could be led by a racist left-wing party after the 2024 election.
The liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), the country’s largest opposition party, has made steady advances in urban areas over the last two decades. Last year, it succeeded in taking over the troubled city of Johannesburg, installing physician Mpho Phalatse as mayor.
Johannesburg, the country’s economic hub and the most important industrial metropolis on the African continent, has suffered high crime and declining public services in recent years. The country’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is widely seen as both corrupt and incompetent, using political power to fund its patronage network and neglecting basic government functions. The DA has governed successfully in Cape Town, and hopes to push the ANC below the 50% threshold in the 2024 general elections.
But the DA has faced a challenge from another rising opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a militant, racist, and socialist party led by former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, known for wearing red and for his incendiary, anti-white rhetoric.