The secretary general of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress Party (ANC) has said the country could become a failed state as incessant power cuts threaten to cripple the economy.
Fikile Mbalula said, “If certain things are not resolved, we will become a failed state, but we are not journeying towards that direction”.
In an exclusive interview, Mr. Mbalula said that South Africa’s economy “has been battered.”
He said while external forces such as the global economy, the impact of Covid, and the war in Ukraine all played a role, the blame also lay partly with “some of our own weaknesses in terms of managing the economy well.”
One in two young South Africans are unemployed and 60% live under the poverty line. But the country “is recovering well”, Mr. Mbalula said.
Defending the ANC’s economic record after almost three decades in power, Mr. Mbulala said the government had cushioned “our people from the worst, after a legacy of 300 years of deprivation and a mismanaged country and economy.”
He acknowledged that regular “load shedding”, an ongoing period of widespread power cuts, was at the heart of the country’s woes and with dire consequences.
He said this could affect the political fortunes of the ANC in next year’s elections.
“It will affect the fortunes of the ANC to receive just an outright majority if it is not dealt with decisively,” he said.
BBC/Christopher Ojilere
