(29 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cape Town, South Africa – 29 May 2024
1. Various of voters queuing at a polling station at the colourful hillside area of Bo-Kaap
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Lawrence Adendorff, Cape Town Resident:
"Obviously our country has its flaws but I do not think we will solve these issues in the short term. Obviously it will take a lot more time than four years to fix all of the problems this country has. Probably it will take another twenty years, but we have to start somewhere and right now it is in this line to vote."
3. Pan of voters in queue
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Muhamad Makgotho, Cape Town Resident:
"In terms of the youth we always have the most to say when it comes to the economic state of the country and all that. Seeing that we are able to vote right now, it is really important for us to come out and actually be a part of the change we want to be a part of. So I think if we want to change the economic state and all the things we complain about and post about on social media and all of that, all of us need to come out and actually do something about it, so that is why I am here today and I hope that everyone else is doing the same thing."
5. Tracking shot of voters in a queue
6. Various of voters casting ballots
STORYLINE:
South Africans began voting Wednesday at schools, community centers and in large white tents set up in open fields in an election seen as their country’s most important in 30 years. It could put the young democracy in unknown territory.
At stake is the three-decade dominance of the African National Congress party, which led South Africa out of apartheid’s brutal white minority rule in 1994.
It is now the target of a new generation of discontent in a country of 62 million people — half of whom are estimated to be living in poverty.
Africa’s most advanced economy has some of the world’s deepest socioeconomic problems, including one of the worst unemployment rates at 32%.
The lingering inequality, with poverty and joblessness disproportionately affecting the Black majority, threatens to unseat the party that promised to end it by bringing down apartheid under the slogan of a better life for all.
After winning six successive national elections, several polls have the ANC’s support at less than 50% ahead of this one, an unprecedented drop.
It might lose its majority in Parliament for the first time, although it’s widely expected to hold the most seats.
The ANC won 57.5% of the vote in the last national election in 2019, its worst result to date and down from a high of nearly 70% of the vote 20 years ago.
Cyrill Ramaphosa, the leader of the ANC, has promised to “do better.” The ANC has asked for more time and patience.
Any change in the ANC’s hold on power could be monumental for South Africa.
If it does lose its majority, the ANC will likely face the prospect of having to form a coalition with others to stay in government and keep Ramaphosa as president for a second term. The ANC having to co-govern has never happened before.
South Africans vote for parties, not directly for their president.
The parties then get seats in Parliament according to their share of the vote and those lawmakers elect the president after the election.
The ANC has always had a majority in Parliament since 1994.
The vote will showcase the country’s contradictions, from the economic hub of Johannesburg — labelled Africa’s richest city — to the picturesque tourist destination of Cape Town, to the informal settlements of shacks in their outskirts.
AP Video shot by Jackson Njehia
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/b4a3e67fba4645cab7d6f28c3543c1b0
