Former South African president Jacob Zuma’s new party, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party, has caused a major upset in the country’s 2024 general election, only months after it was launched. It unseated the African National Congress (ANC) in the KwaZulu-Natal province and helped rob it of an outright majority in the National Assembly for the first time. As a result, the country is set to have its first national coalition government since democracy in 1994. Mashupye H. Maserumule sets out what the MK Party is about, its performance and its prospects.
The African National Congress (ANC) has governed South Africa with a comfortable majority over the last 30 years. That means it has been able to determine the country’s foreign policy. But, in the 2024 general election, the party has suffered a bruising loss of its power and its ability to govern on its own. Bhaso Ndzendze reflects on the uncertain times ahead for the country’s foreign policy as decisions, like whether to support Palestine, will now depend on the ruling coalition.
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Mashupye Herbert Maserumule, Tshwane University of Technology
Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe is now the largest party in KwaZulu-Natal and the fourth biggest nationally.
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Bhaso Ndzendze, University of Johannesburg
The country will see more foreign policy continuity if the ANC partners with smaller parties that share its world view.
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Joachim De Weerdt, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ; Jan Duchoslav, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
The El Niño drought in Malawi decimated the maize harvest this year. It has left the country with few options other than importing food.
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Nemata Blyden, University of Virginia
Ghana has long attracted African Americans who have suffered racial injustices in the US.
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Vinita Srivastava, The Conversation
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