Dashed hopes: South Africa's challenging journey
The African National Congress, the party that once stood for the end of apartheid, has governed South Africa for 30 years. But many voters want change before the 2024 general election.
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00:00 [Music]
00:05 South Africa's democracy is facing a trust crisis.
00:09 With the government that we are having, I don't think it's going to change.
00:12 They just don't care.
00:14 Extreme poverty has dashed hopes of a better life,
00:17 with immigrants being blamed for many problems.
00:20 We're saying no to foreigners.
00:24 Everything we fought for, it's in vain.
00:26 We understand.
00:27 This country was supposed to be owned by us.
00:31 Nelson Mandela's African National Congress has ruled for 30 years,
00:36 but many feel let down by it.
00:38 For us, the promise of '94 wasn't delivered.
00:42 My generation, who's lived as a born free in South Africa,
00:46 has not tasted real freedom.
00:48 So what is the current state of democracy in South Africa,
00:51 the country once seen as a role model for the whole continent?
00:54 [Music]
01:04 [Chanting]
01:07 A crowd looking for something to change,
01:09 and the new social democratic movement, Rise Mzanzi,
01:13 meaning Rise South Africa, promises to deliver just that.
01:17 At the party conference in Johannesburg,
01:20 its leader, journalist and writer, Songhezo Zibi,
01:23 speaks in front of supporters,
01:25 emphasizing his goal to build a coalition for democratic change.
01:29 There are more unemployed young people today than 20 years ago.
01:35 There are more unemployed graduates today
01:37 than at any point in South African history.
01:40 Nearly half of all children who start school never finish
01:44 because of poverty, hunger, standing,
01:48 drug abuse and other problems.
01:50 [Applause]
01:52 Next year's presidential elections could mark a turning point for South Africa.
01:56 For the past three decades,
01:58 the ANC has held an absolute majority in parliament.
02:01 But the discontent is growing throughout the country,
02:04 and the party is losing support.
02:06 It's been a few years since Irfan Mangera left the ANC.
02:10 It was not an easy decision.
02:12 He used to be the chairman of the ANC youth movement in his province.
02:16 His parents were even members of the freedom movement
02:19 and risked their lives during apartheid.
02:21 In times when the ANC was classified as a terrorist organization
02:25 by the racist regime,
02:27 their son now belongs to a new generation,
02:29 the so-called "born frees."
02:32 They see today's ANC less as a liberating force
02:35 and more as a bunch of corrupt leaders holding the country captive.
02:39 And yes, we have different rights where we can vote,
02:44 and we have a constitution,
02:46 but the substance of it is missing.
02:48 And I think we need to get down to the more difficult questions,
02:52 the more complex questions on how we solve for
02:54 the socioeconomic gap that exists,
02:56 the issues where crime is riddling all communities,
03:00 where we're not able to develop in both schools
03:03 and in adequate infrastructure,
03:05 especially in rural and township communities.
03:08 Just a few streets away, in downtown Johannesburg,
03:12 while Rai's Mzanzi is advocating for long-term political change,
03:16 these people are demanding that something is done immediately.
03:19 They're not willing to wait until the next election or new government.
03:23 "Marka!"
03:24 "No!"
03:25 "The streets is ours!"
03:28 "Whose streets?"
03:30 "Our streets!"
03:31 "Whose streets?"
03:33 "Our streets!"
03:34 "Whose streets?"
03:35 "Our streets!"
03:36 "Marka!"
03:37 Nolutondo Hasamo is out demonstrating
03:40 for safe and affordable housing in Johannesburg.
03:43 She grew up on these streets and has seen the rapid expansion
03:46 of slums in the city center in recent years.
03:49 The city's infrastructure is decaying,
03:51 whether it's the electricity and water network,
03:54 sewage treatment plants, police and fire departments,
03:57 or the waste management.
03:58 Everything is in crisis.
04:00 Hasamo works for the Inner City Resource Center,
04:03 an association that campaigns for the rights of the city's poorest.
04:08 "People are saying these dilapidated buildings,
04:11 it's not because by choice,
04:12 but it's because there's nowhere to go
04:15 and they want accessibility to come and work closer
04:19 to inner city of Johannesburg."
04:21 Almost half of Johannesburg's more than 5.5 million inhabitants
04:25 live on less than $100 a month.
04:28 Extreme poverty forces many to move into abandoned and dilapidated buildings,
04:33 where living conditions are not just inadequate, but also dangerous.
04:37 Serious fires keep breaking out,
04:39 like most recently in Marshalltown, a district in the city center.
04:43 77 people died, but instead of improving conditions,
04:47 many in the city and government blame immigrants for the disasters.
04:51 In the wake of the fire,
04:52 they demanded that all unemployed foreigners be expelled from the city center.
04:57 But these demonstrators refuse to be turned into scapegoats.
05:06 "We can safely say the success of the demonstration itself
05:14 is a demonstration of the overwhelming rejection of the politics
05:20 of scapegoating of xenophobia."
05:24 "So we cannot blame foreigners to be here in this country,
05:28 we should actually blame our government.
05:30 The city of Johannesburg is the one that is turning the buildings to slums
05:33 by cutting the services of the water and electricity.
05:37 And so now we say we want the upgrading of the better inner city
05:42 for all the people living in it. Thank you."
05:45 But that's not how everyone sees it,
05:48 and frustration often turns into violence against foreigners.
05:52 "Thousands of people in Johannesburg have been arrested
05:56 after riots and looting on Monday.
05:58 Many of the targeted shops are reported to be owned by foreign nationals.
06:02 In recent years, anti-immigrant sentiments have even been deliberately
06:07 stirred up by politicians and parties,
06:09 with xenophobic ideology dressed up as patriotism.
06:13 The far-right Operation Dudula is doing just that.
06:20 Dudula means to expel or knock down.
06:23 The organization was founded in 2021
06:26 and officially became a political party in early 2023.
06:30 In their distinctive camouflage uniforms,
06:33 the members make no secret of the fact that they want to enforce their demands
06:37 on the streets with violence if necessary,
06:40 as here in the township of Naledi in Soweto.
06:43 People are in shock after the death of two children.
06:51 Although the police haven't been able to determine the cause of death,
06:55 members of Operation Dudula claim that Pakistani immigrants,
06:59 the owners of this shop, killed the children by selling them poisoned candy.
07:03 The Secretary General of Operation Dudula, Zandile Dubula,
07:18 arrives and meets personally with the families of the victims
07:21 before issuing a threat.
07:24 We're going to be shutting down these paza shops that are owned by non-South Africans,
07:28 especially my friends, you Pakistanians, you Bangladeshis, you Ethiopians.
07:32 That's what we'll be doing as of now.
07:34 How do you do that? How do you shut them down?
07:37 So, we have a petition that was signed by the community of Naledi
07:43 that they no longer want these paza shops to operate.
07:46 We've taken it to the police station. The station command has signed it off.
07:50 So what's going to happen is that the police will have to accompany us.
07:54 Of course, Operation Dudula knows full well that the police can't be going around
07:59 closing stores on the basis of petitions.
08:02 They have to follow the law.
08:04 But their rhetoric immediately resonates with the angry crowd.
08:07 Finally, the police arrive to disperse the mob.
08:16 Following the populist textbook, Operation Dudula blames an idle state
08:21 and claims to be on the side of the people.
08:24 And to many, the slogans seem appealing.
08:27 These people, they must protect us.
08:37 But they're protecting outside people.
08:39 We as South Africans, by this moment, we are not united,
08:43 but we want Pakistan to leave our country.
08:46 The party is still a long way from a majority.
08:49 And outside of Soweto, few people have even heard about Operation Dudula.
08:54 But its support is steadily growing.
08:56 And with it, the violence against foreigners.
08:59 Some of the victims from the Marshalltown fire have since been relocated
09:08 to a piece of land on the outskirts of the city,
09:11 previously owned by the South African government.
09:14 Previously owned by the South African Football Association.
09:18 It's doubtful that the conditions here are any safer
09:21 than the place they've just been evacuated from.
09:23 Hosomo visits the camp to check in on the residents.
09:27 The Saffa House got burnt.
09:30 I think it was last year in June.
09:35 It got burnt.
09:37 And then, yeah, so they couldn't do anything.
09:40 So now people are just staying here.
09:42 They've already made sure for themselves.
09:44 Now the city has informed the people here that they will have to leave again.
09:49 They've been told to build their huts on an empty plot of land
09:52 way outside of the city,
09:54 without access to electricity or running water.
09:57 Thembelile Zualu is one of the survivors of the fire.
10:01 The unemployed mother lost everything in the blaze,
10:04 including her hope for change.
10:07 Every human being has a right to be a shelter.
10:10 But what happened to us?
10:12 From the fire to the squatter shelter,
10:14 from the squatter shelter to the streets, you know?
10:17 Anyway, I stopped voting two years ago.
10:21 I'm not. I'm not going to vote.
10:24 I'm not really going to vote.
10:27 And why?
10:30 Because the government doesn't care.
10:32 We don't even know who to trust because they make promises that they can't keep.
10:37 So what's the use?
10:38 They just want to be up there and forget about the people.
10:41 According to a recent study, half of South Africans no longer vote.
10:47 Cyril Ramaphosa, the ANC leader and president of South Africa,
10:51 is on the campaign trail in the town of Okorolemi,
10:55 where he keeps repeating that his party's successes outweigh any shortcomings,
10:59 on every issue from the mass construction of social housing
11:03 to free education and health care.
11:05 But on this day, the president isn't willing to answer any questions.
11:09 Instead, he sends the local ANC leader to meet the press.
11:16 And I think we've done, you know, quite a lot on education.
11:20 The ANC has done very well in the health system.
11:23 Generally, the infrastructure, you know, is well developed,
11:27 including in the township, in the poorest places like here.
11:31 There's supply of electricity, there's flowing water, flowing sewer, the roads are tarred.
11:36 But as the ANC celebrates its successes,
11:40 Rize Mzanzi denounces the rampant corruption and crime in the country.
11:45 And for the crowd at the rally, it has everything to do with the ruling party.
11:49 And so when people go and vote,
11:55 I think it will be a referendum on the ANC as a governing party,
11:59 but also a referendum on the politics that we've seen over the last 30 years,
12:04 which is this exchange of promises for votes.
12:07 Nonetheless, and just as it has done for the last 30 years,
12:12 the ANC will in all likelihood once more form the next government.
12:17 But whether it will also manage to regain the trust of South Africans remains to be seen.
12:22 [Chanting]
12:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]