The secretary general of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress Party (ANC), Fikile Mbalula has said the country could become a failed state as incessant power cuts threaten to cripple the economy.
In an exclusive interview with Stephen Sackur for the BBC’s Hardtalk programme, Mbalula said that South Africa’s economy “has been battered”.
The former Minister for Transport told the BBC that “if certain things are not resolved, we will become a failed state, but we are not journeying towards that direction”.
While external factors including the state of the global economy, the effects of COVID, and the conflict in Ukraine all had an impact, he claimed that “some of our own weaknesses in terms of managing the economy well” were also to blame.
He also pointed out that one in two young South Africans are unemployed and 60% of South Africans are living under the poverty line, however, the country “is recovering well.”
After nearly three decades in power, Mr. Mbulala defended the ANC’s economic performance and said that the government had protected “our people from the worst, after a legacy of 300 years of deprivation and a mismanaged country and economy”.
He admitted that the persistent practice of “load shedding,” which involves widespread power outages, was at the root of the nation’s problems and has serious repercussions.
In the upcoming elections, he claimed that this might have an impact on the ANC’s political fortunes.
“It will effect the fortunes of the ANC to receive just an outright majority…if it is not dealt with decisively”, he said.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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