South Africa's Ramaphosa sets May 29 election date
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00:00 Eunice Masson joins us now. She's in Cape Town. Eunice, so May 29th, that's not very long
00:06 before the election is going to be held. The window that could have been chosen for the
00:14 election was sometime between May and August. Why do you think Ramaphosa has chosen to hold it
00:18 earlier rather than later? Yeah, thank you, Georgia. I think it's really in the best interest
00:25 of the, or for the ruling ANC government to have the election sooner in May and not August,
00:31 for multiple reasons. There are many independent candidates and new parties joining this year's
00:37 election, including that of former President Jacob Zuma's MK party. So having the elections in May
00:45 give these newcomers less time to campaign and attract new voters. And on a more practical point,
00:52 a load shedding in South Africa is usually more frequent during winter months in June, July. So
00:59 having the election after such a period would not count in the ANC's favor. It really is a race
01:05 against time for the ruling party who would want to stay in power and not lose votes to smaller
01:12 rising political parties. And since the announcement tonight, the responses to having
01:16 the election in May are positive, especially opposition parties who now have a clear timeline
01:22 ahead of the elections. I mentioned a little earlier, Eunice, that a lot of South Africans
01:29 are running out of patience with the ANC. So what are the stakes for the party here?
01:34 Is their majority really in jeopardy, do you think? Well, you know, this year's election comes
01:41 at a time when the governing party is at its weakest since 1994. The ANC has focused that they
01:48 have made a lot of changes since 1994. But for the first time in 30 years, the ANC might not receive
01:56 the votes that it always counted on. The country, like you've mentioned, is experiencing slow
02:02 economic growth, rolling blackouts, failing service delivery and high rates of corruption.
02:08 And the country now might have the chance to change this. Politically, it's also challenging
02:15 for the ANC at this moment, both internally and externally. As I mentioned, the MK party,
02:21 which is supported by the former ANC president, poses a real threat to the ANC in terms of not
02:28 necessarily winning the election, not at all, but stealing much needed votes. We also saw the
02:35 establishment of the multi-party charter. That is a group of 10 opposition parties that have formed
02:41 a coalition in the hope to push out the ANC this year. Thanks very much, Younes Mason there for us
02:48 in Cape Town.