On May 29, South Africans voted in the seventh election since the end of political apartheid in the early 1990s. This is the first election in which the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is polling below 50 percent, which could force them into a coalition with one or more other parties to govern the country after the election.

To learn more, we speak with Carolyn Holmes, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is an expert on South African politics and the author of The Black and White Rainbow: Reconciliation, Opposition, and Nation-Building in Democratic South Africa (U Michigan Press, 2020).

Find the books, links, and articles we mentioned in this episode on our website, ufahamuafrica.com.

Books, Links, & Articles:

The Black and White Rainbow by Carolyn E. Holmes
“Family of American caught up in Congo failed coup says their son went to Africa on vacation.” by Hannah Schoenbaum and Jessica Donati
“The Politics of “Non-Political” Activism in Democratic South Africa.” by Carolyn E. Holmes

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South Africa Goes to the Polls