South Africans elect this Monday the councilors of the 257 municipalities of their country. Around 26 million voters are expected to vote in a high-risk poll for the African National Congress (ANC).
The socio-economic situation of the country has not played in favor of the party in power since 1994.
Among others, unemployment, for example, affects 34.4% of the population in an economy already in recession before the Covid-19 crisis.
The army was deployed in urban centers to secure these elections, some 10,000 soldiers were called in to reinforce the police in the provinces of Gauteng, where Johannesburg and Pretoria are located, and KwaZulu-Natal in the east.
The July riots had started in KwaZulu-Natal and were the most virulent, with around 350 dead in the violence after former President Jacob Zuma was arrested for corruption.
According to some polls, the ANC could for the first time drop below 50% of the vote in Monday’s municipal elections.
Source: AfrikPage