Fifteen years after Mandela, South Africa heads to the polls

Fifteen years after Nelson Mandela swept to an historic victory to become the first black President of South Africa, today South Africans again head to the polls. As it has for the last fifteen years, once again Nelson Mandela’s party, the African National Congress, is expected to win comfortably, and the ANC’s Jacob Zuma is expected to become President. But for many, South Africa has not lived up to the dreams of 1994, the year Mandela, one of the great heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle became President and a national unity government was formed. Now, almost 23% of the population is unemployed and the country is plagued with a staggeringly high murder and crime rate. Many blame South Africa’s problems on the government and for the first time since 1994, the ANC faces meaningful opposition in this election.

To help paint the scene and provide some background, this morning The Takeaway talks with Andrew Meldrum, Africa Editor of the Global Post in Boston, who spent 27 years in South Africa, and with the BBC’s Africa Editor, Martin Plaut, who’s outside a polling station in a township in Cape Town.