In May 2024, South Africa went to elections in a plebiscite that saw the African National Congress (ANC) losing the absolute majority it had garnered since 1994. In November 2024, the United States goes to the polls in what will determine whether former President Donald Trump returns to the White House or Vice President Kamala Harris succeeds outgoing President Joe Biden.
There are distinct electoral politics differences between the two democracies. For instance, the U.S. elections are based on a direct presidential, gubernatorial, and senatorial voting system. South Africa, on the other hand, operates a proportional representation voting system where citizens vote for parties, and each party chooses its cabinet, parliamentary, and municipal representatives from party lists. Whereas South Africa is evolving into a multiparty democracy with tens of political parties gunning for political power, the U.S. has two dominant parties, the Democratic and Republican parties.
Yet, there are a couple of similarities between the two democracies. For instance, race and race relations are hot-button issues. Migration and migrant populations are equally contentious electoral issues, as are issues of economic inequalities, matters of social justice, unemployment, and variances in the economic wherewithal of various regions. Equally important is that the apex leadership in both countries determines the ebb and flow of the relations between them. In the recent past, geopolitical tensions have sparked contestations on the current and future nature of South Africa-US relations.
Jonathan Jansen (Stellenbosch University) will moderate the virtual discussion, where panelists from Stanford University and the University of the Witwatersrand will weigh in on these and more issues, fleshing out similarities and debating differences. By the time of the discussion, the president of the United States would have been declared. This will permit moving the analysis away from speculation and toward a measure of certainty on what to expect in the US-South Africa relations in the next four years.
This event is co-sponsored by the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), the Center for African Studies (CAS), and the African Center for the Study of the United States, University of the Witwatersrand.