IMAGE: Daily Maverick

Introduction

In May 2024, South Africa held national elections. The ruling African National Congress (ANC), for the first
time since the end of Apartheid in 1994, failed to get a majority and was faced with the need to establish
a governing coalition with one of its rivals or hold new elections whose outcome would not be a foregone
conclusion. With the new Government of National Unity (GNU) in place, Bob Wekesa of the African Center
for the Study of the US (ACSUS), Paul Nantulya of the U.S. National Defense University, foreign policy
analyst Sanusha Naidu, and former Ambassador J. Peter Pham joined Foreign Policy Research Institute
(FPRI) Africa Program Chair, Ambassador Charles Ray for an in depth look at the future of South Africa
post-election. The panel discussed the impact of the elections on South Africa’s relations with the United
States (US), other Western nations, and the rest of the Global South, as well as the likely response of the
global and African markets to the various possibilities of coalition governments? The panel discussion,
held on July 25 was jointly presented by FPRI and ACSUS.

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