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South Africans are giving up on Nelson Mandela’s party. Good

„The impatience and dissatisfaction among ordinary people are justified,” Nelson Mandela warned his party in 1999. At the time, the African National Congress (anc) utterly dominated South Africa. A generation on, after years of corruption, stagnation and collapsing public services, South Africans have run out of patience entirely. At local elections on November 4th they handed the ruling party its worst-ever result in a nationwide ballot. Though the ANC eked out 31% of all votes, more than any rival, that was less than half of what it recorded in 2004. In the country’s most dynamic places, it did especially badly. It is no longer the largest party in any big city, including Johannesburg, the commercial capital.