South Africa’s general election of 2024 saw the African National Congress losing its majority at the national level for the first time since the arrival of democracy in 1994.

To maintain its rule, President Cyril Ramaphosa led his party into a Government of National Unity (GNU) centered around a hitherto unlikely coalition with the opposition Democratic Alliance. Election 2024, South Africa: Countdown to Coalition presents the first comprehensive analysis of this historic process.

It outlines the extensive social and economic crisis that preceded the election; provides detailed analyses of the election campaigns of the political parties; highlights the dramatic rise Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe Party; places the GNU against the recent experiences of coalition formation at provincial and local level; offers comprehensive summaries of voter participation and both the national and provincial results; and discusses prospects for the GNU’s survival and its possible long-term consequences.

Written in a highly accessible style, Election 2024, South Africa is an indispensable resource for all those wanting to understand South Africa’s contemporary politics.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Collette Schulz-Herzenberg is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University. Collette specialises in political behaviour and public opinion research and has contributed to the surging body of scholarship on South African electoral politics. Collette completed her undergraduate studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London in the 1990s and returned to South Africa to pursue postgraduate studies.

Roger Southall has taught in Uganda, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Africa, where he was a Professor of Political Studies from 1990 to 2001, Executive Director/Distinguished Research Fellow Human Sciences Research Council from 2001-2007, Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand, 2007–2013. He now lives in Cape Town, continues to write, and walks dogs.

'Election 2024, South Africa: Countdown to Coalition' is published by Jacana Media