Consent of the Governed: South Africa

Summary

South Africa is a constitutional republic and parliamentary democracy whose president and government ministers are chosen by the popularly elected National Assembly, the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The previous system of apartheid, in which a white minority oppressed a majority of black Africans, Coloureds (people of mixed race), and Asians, was ended starting in 1991 after decades of domestic resistance and international pressure.

In 1993, after negotiations between the ruling white National Party and the African National Congress (ANC), along with other opposition parties, an interim constitution was adopted by consensus. Under it, in April 1994, the ANC won South Africa’s first free, multiparty and multi-racial elections for a Constitutional Assembly. The Assembly elected the ANC’s leader, Nelson Mandela, as president. In 1996, the Assembly adopted a permanent constitution by a super-majority vote. It came into force the next year following final approval by the Constitutional Court. Since then, South Africa has held elections every five years. Despite ongoing problems of racial inequality, high unemployment, and corruption, South Africa has emerged as one of the African continent’s most stable democracies. In May 2024, the country held its seventh free and fair election under a new constitution adopted in 1996. For the first time, the ANC lost its parliamentary majority and formed a coalition government (see Current Issues below).

Despite ongoing problems of racial inequality, high unemployment, and corruption . . . South Africa has emerged as one of the African continent’s most stable democracies.

South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world (1,219,000 sq. kilometers) with a population of around 63 million people in 2023 (an increase from 40 million in 1994). According to the last recorded census estimate, 79 percent are black African, 10 percent are white, 8.5 percent are Coloured, and 2.5 percent are Asian (mostly of Indian origin). The black population is itself highly diverse, with major ethnic groups including Zulu, Xhosa, Basotho, Bapedi, Venda, Tswana, Tsonga, Swazi and Ndebele. The white population is mainly Afrikaner (descended from Dutch settlers and speaking Afrikaans), but includes a large community of British descent from a 100-year period of British colonial rule. There are 11 recognized “official” languages. English serves as the lingua franca.

Rich in natural resources, South Africa's economy is the largest on the continent. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), South Africa ranks 40th in the world for projected nominal GDP in 2024 at $373 billion in total output, but only 107th in per capita Gross National Income (GNI) at $5,975 per annum. Despite the emergence of a sizable black middle class, economic disparity between white and black remains large. The unemployment rate, affecting mostly black Africans, reached 35 percent during the coronavirus epidemic.

History

Origins

South Africa's black population is made up mostly of indigenous San and Bantu peoples, who migrated from northern parts of Africa. Pastoral, agricultural and hunter-gatherer groups developed into distinct kingdoms over time, each with their own spoken languages. But the region did not enter the written histories of the European world until the first Portuguese explorer, Bartolomeu Dias, rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.

Colonization and the Great Trek

Following several abortive attempts by the Portuguese to colonize the area, the Dutch East India Company established the first permanent European settlement on the Cape of Good Hope, what would become Cape Town, in 1652. As the Dutch expanded this settlement, they battled indigenous Africans, especially the Xhosa kingdom, in the Cape Frontier Wars. The indigenous people were not easily conquered and the Dutch imported slaves to meet their labor needs, mainly from colonies in Asia.

Britain seized the Cape colony in 1795 as part of its conflict with revolutionary France. After briefly ceding the territory back to the Dutch (who were backed by the French), the British regained authority over the Cape in 1814 with the defeat of Napoleon. The Dutch settlers, chafing at British rule, began migrating to areas northeast of the Cape and forged a new identity as an “indigenous” African nation, calling themselves Trekboers (Wandering Farmers). They were later known simply as Boers. When Britain abolished slavery throughout its empire in 1833, the Boers, strict believers in white racial superiority and separatism, migrated farther to territories in the northeast and established the Transvaal and Orange Free State.

The Boer Wars

The British consolidated their control over what is now South Africa by conquering Zululand in 1879. Britain had already seized diamond mines located in disputed Boer areas and annexed the Transvaal. In the First Boer War in 1880, Transvaal revolted and inflicted a quick and decisive defeat on British forces to regain its independence. It called itself the South African Republic (SAR). The Second Boer War arose after the discovery of gold in the northern region of Witwatersrand. A flood of non-Boer white prospectors migrated to the area, threatening Boer independence. The SAR rejected British demands to give foreign whites the vote and fighting broke out in 1899. This time the British won, in part by adopting brutal tactics, including a notorious scorched-earth campaign. A treaty signed in 1902 forced Transvaal and the Orange Free State to recognize British sovereignty.

The Union of South Africa

In 1910, Britain created the Union of South Africa, a federation of the Transvaal, Orange Free State, the British-dominated Cape Colony, and Natal (Zululand). The Union of South Africa existed as a self-governing dominion within the British Empire similar to Australia. This granted the Boers, or Afrikaners, the right to home rule. In this political setting, Black Africans were denied voting rights in all four states and suffered under discriminatory laws. Protests were crushed by the authorities. The Union of South Africa was an ally of the British in World War I, driving the Germans from their colony of South West Africa (Namibia). In 1939, it also joined Britain’s World War II effort after Jan Smuts regained control of the ruling party from an anti-British, pro-Nazi faction.

Apartheid

The apartheid laws brought a new level of racial discrimination, instituting strict separation in all areas of life ... blacks, Coloureds, and Indians lived in a repressive police state that suppressed all opposition to the apartheid system.

In the 1948 elections, an anti-British backlash brought the pro-Nazi and assertively racist parties back to power. The coalition government of Prime Minister D. F. Malan began instituting apartheid, meaning “separateness” in Afrikaans. In part, this was a formalization and extension of previous British “pass laws” and land acts that were already in force and kept blacks from traveling freely, obtaining employment where they wished, or owning land. But the apartheid laws brought a new level of racial discrimination, instituting strict separation in all areas of life. The system also strengthened the Afrikaners' economic position against the British, placing most assets in Afrikaner hands. While the white minority of Afrikaner and English descent enjoyed formal democracy and general freedom, blacks, Coloureds, and Indians lived in a repressive police state that suppressed all opposition to the apartheid system. Blacks suffered the greatest discrimination and the black population lived largely in economic misery and social isolation.

Opposition to Racist Rule

There is a long history of indigenous African opposition to colonization, racist rule and apartheid.

There is a long history of indigenous African opposition to colonization, racist rule and apartheid. As recounted above, the Xhosa, Zulu and other nations resisted encroachment on their territories over two centuries. The British takeover of Zululand in 1879 came at a heavy cost, including Britain’s worst colonial defeat at the battle of Isandlwana.

At the turn of the 20th century, Mohandas Gandhi, who was then living in South Africa as a young lawyer, emerged as a notable activist against discrimination of Indians imposed by the British colonial administration. He helped organize the South African Indian Congress and campaigns of civil resistance (he was arrested 20 times in efforts to reverse discriminatory laws). In turn, black community and ethnic leaders organized the South African Native National Congress in 1912 to oppose racist laws by the new Union of South Africa. It was later renamed the African National Congress, or ANC.

Peaceful and Armed Resistance

In 1944, Nelson Mandela and others organized an ANC youth wing, which dedicated itself to a strategy of massive civil resistance. It organized national protests such as the Defiance Campaign in 1952 and the local Sharpeville Protest in 1960, both of which gained support from around the world.

The brutal suppression of these peaceful campaigns led the ANC to take up armed resistance in 1961. Mandela, the first leader of the ANC's military wing, was arrested in 1962. He was sentenced in 1964 to life imprisonment on Robben Island. Armed resistance proved ineffective against the overwhelming power of the apartheid state’s security forces. Over time, internal civil resistance, especially by new student organizations and black trade unions, gained greater strength within the country in the late 1970s and 1980s.

The National Party government declared the country to be a republic in 1961 and withdrew South Africa from the British Commonwealth, most of whose members opposed apartheid. Beginning in the 1950s, international campaigns had been organized to pressure South Africa to end apartheid through sanctions, disinvestment and other means. The government tried to maintain support, especially from the United States, by presenting itself as a bastion against expansion of Soviet influence in southern Africa during the Cold War. But this rationale lost support. By 1986, at the insistence of Congress (which overrode a veto of legislation by then-President Ronald Reagan), the US imposed a policy of comprehensive economic and political sanctions.

Peaceful and Armed Resistance

In 1989, the combination of growing internal resistance and international pressure led the newly installed president, F. W. de Klerk, to initiate negotiations with the still-imprisoned Nelson Mandela, who was seen domestically and internationally as the leader of the opposition to apartheid. By then, Mandela was convinced that continued armed struggle was pointless and was committed to a strategy of non-violent change. De Klerk finally ordered the release of Mandela in 1990 after more than 27 years in prison on Robben Island, most of them in isolation. Over time, the two leaders’ negotiations led to lifting the ban on the ANC (and the Pan-Africanist Congress and South African Communist Party), an end to apartheid laws, and ultimately the adoption of a new interim constitution in 1993. Democratic multiracial elections were held in April 1994. The ANC won an overwhelming majority in the Constituent Assembly, which elected the ANC’s leader, Nelson Mandela, president that May.

Consent of the Governed

Since the negotiated end of apartheid and the first free multi-racial elections in 1994, the country has been a constitutional republic and parliamentary democracy with an established system of consent of the governed of all citizens.

Under the white-dominated Union of South Africa, established in 1910, there was no consent of the governed for the majority of the population. The small minority of whites enjoyed basic freedoms and had the right to vote, while black Africans, Coloureds, and Asians, who constituted 90 percent of the population, were denied the vote and were largely discriminated against. In 1948, racist and anti-British white Afrikaner parties seized full control of the government and established a system of apartheid (“separateness”) under the renamed Republic of South Africa. This was a harsher, more discriminatory race-based authoritarian rule in which the white minority denied all rights to blacks, Coloureds, and Asians, with particular discrimination and use of violence against the black population.

Since the negotiated end of apartheid and the first free multi-racial elections in 1994, the country has been a constitutional republic and parliamentary democracy with an established system of consent of the governed of all citizens. South Africa has regular democratic elections, guaranteed human rights to all groups, and institutions that check the abuse of power. A fuller description of South Africa’s consent of the governed in its democratic period is below.

The Establishment of Democracy

The first free, multiracial election for a bicameral parliament were held on April 27, 1994 under an interim constitution. (The date was later proclaimed South Africa's Freedom Day.) In that election, there was nearly universal citizen participation despite a high level of violence aimed at preventing them. The African National Congress (ANC) won 62 percent of the vote with 87 percent turnout of eligible voters. The Afrikaner-based National Party took 20 percent and the Inkatha Freedom Party (representing much of Zululand, with the largest black ethnic group) won 10 percent. Nelson Mandela, who had spent 27 years in jail before being freed to resume leadership of the ANC, won the presidency in a landslide vote within the lower house of Parliament, which also served as a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution.

As required by the interim constitution, President Mandela formed a Government of National Unity and the prior leader of the apartheid government, F. W. de Klerk, was initially Deputy President. (The two leaders were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for negotiating a peaceful end to apartheid.) The new government oversaw the initial political transition and set in process the drafting and final adoption of a permanent constitution in 1996 by the Constituent Assembly. The constitution reflected Mandela’s strong commitment to human rights and to building a multi-racial democracy (what he called a “rainbow nation”). It includes a sweeping bill of rights that guarantees equal rights to all; institutes affirmative action programs to redress previous racial disadvantages; and establishes firm protected institutions to ensure accountability and transparency of government. The constitution came into full effect in 1997 after being approved by the South African Constitutional Court, which affirmed the constitution’s conformity to international human rights conventions.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was seen as a model for other post-dictatorship societies trying to come to grips with past injustices. Many, however, criticized the proceedings because no criminal penalties were meted out to the perpetrators who revealed their crimes from the apartheid era.

In 1995, Mandela created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a means of addressing the past apartheid system. To lead it, he named Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a constant voice from the pulpit and in the streets for human rights, democracy and non-violence during the apartheid era. The Commission had authority to provide amnesty to all those who came forward to tell the truth about atrocities and police actions during the era of apartheid. Only those who refused to tell the truth were subject to punishment. The televised hearings provided families with information about the fate of loved ones and the citizenry learned the facts about the former regime's elaborately brutal efforts to control the non-white population.

In its final report, the Commission found that the regime had committed at least 7,000 political murders between 1948 and 1989 and that 19,050 people total were identified as victims of gross human rights violations.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was seen as a model for other post-dictatorship societies trying to come to grips with past injustices. Many, however, criticized the proceedings because no criminal penalties were meted out to the perpetrators who revealed their crimes from the apartheid era. (The public debate was revived in 2021 on Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s death at the age of 90. See Resources for an obituary in the Economist.)

The Consolidation of Democracy

In a continent known for long-ruling strongmen, Nelson Mandela made the unusual choice of serving only one term to re-enforce South Africa’s democratic path.

Under the constitution, South Africans are free to choose their government democratically every five years. In the first five democratic national elections held after 1994, the ANC, in a coalition with the South African Congress of Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party, held a consistently large electoral advantage. However, its majority had diminished, from a high of 66.4 percent in 1999 to 57.5 percent of the vote in 2019. (The 2024 elections saw a larger decrease in support and a loss of the ANC’s parliamentary majority. See Current Issues.)

The liberal, multi-racial Democratic Alliance, with its roots in an opposition party during the apartheid era, supplanted the post-apartheid National Party as the main opposition party in 1999. It gained a new high of 20 percent of the vote in 2019. The more recently established Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a radical party whose members split from the ANC, became the third largest with 11 percent of the vote. Post-apartheid white supremacist parties have limited support.

In a continent known for long-ruling strongmen, Nelson Mandela made the unusual choice of serving only one term to re-enforce South Africa’s democratic path. South Africa remained on a democratic path, but it became more uneven.

Democracy’s Uneven Path

Successive presidential administrations were marred by political rivalries, poor governance and corruption.

Mandela’s deputy president, Thabo Mbeki, another leader in the anti-apartheid movement, was elected to succeed him after the 1999 elections. Despite Mandela’s public rebuke for Mbeki’s catastrophic response to the country’s catastrophic AIDS epidemic — Mbeki denied the science of HIV transmission, claiming it was a disease of poverty, and refused to undertake any comprehensive medical or educational response — he was re-elected in 2004 to a second term, the constitutional limit.

Mbeki then forced his deputy president, Jacob Zuma, to resign over corruption charges. But in a leadership fight with Mbeki, Zuma was elected head of the ANC in 2007 on a radical economic platform that gained support among youth and the poor. Zuma was elected president in 2009 following that year’s legislative election. Mbeki himself had been compelled to resign before the end of his term over charges of misusing the police and judicial system against Zuma. The presidency of Zuma, elected to a second term in 2014, was marred by even worse corruption (see below).

Political Dominance, Opposition and Civil Society

The political dominance of the ANC, the organization Mandela led, prompted some analysts to question South Africa's democratic character. But dominance by a coalition that overthrew authoritarian rule is not unusual in new democracies

The political dominance of the ANC, the organization Mandela led, prompted some analysts to question South Africa's democratic character. But dominance by a coalition that overthrew authoritarian rule is not unusual in new democracies (see, for example, Country Study of Chile).

As well, factions competed within the ANC and were usually balanced when competing in elections and in appointment to official offices. As noted, one faction upset at the ANC’s lack of attention to addressing Black poverty and economic disempowerment, split to form a new party (Economic Freedom Fighters). More importantly, the constitution established stable democratic institutions with checks and balances, the rule of law and a federal system of local self-government. Chapter 9 of the Constitution establishes firm protections for investigating corruption and abuse of power. Opposition parties have full freedom to compete in elections and, while in the minority, have significant possibilities for initiating oversight, demanding public investigations and proposing alternative programs.

Long-term political dominance by one party did lead to corruption and abuse of power. The newfound wealth of some of South Africa’s leaders, especially President Zuma, raised significant concerns over endemic corruption and “state capture,” meaning the forging of entrenched public and private interests to control the government. This led to a public investigation and appointment of an independent commission in 2018, which had long-lasting political impact leading to the ANC’s loss of a parliamentary majority for the first time in 2024 elections. (See “The Zondo Commission” below and Current Issues.)

The vibrant civil society that emerged during the period of civil resistance to apartheid also works to check the abuse of power, combat corruption and lobby for policy changes.

The vibrant civil society that emerged during the period of civil resistance to apartheid also works to check the abuse of power, combat corruption and lobby for policy changes. Despite COSATU’s formal role within the ANC structure, free trade unions act to protect their members in defiance of the government. By law, civic and human rights organizations and independent media participate in all public debates, from legislation to court rulings. Frequent civic, student and worker protests are evidence of the freedoms protected under the South African constitution. But the issues the protests address reflect the continuing legacy of apartheid, such as economic inequality, lack of opportunity to higher education and basic freedoms like freedom of expression.

While blacks gained greater access to higher education and professional training, economic gains are small relative to the overall black population. There remains a high level of entrenched poverty and the white minority retains much of its economically prior privileged status.

The Zondo Commission and “State Capture”

For many years, South African politics was dominated by the Zondo Commission and its broad findings about corruption and state capture in the Zuma administration. The Commission highlights the significance of South Africa’s independent media, civil society, judiciary and investigating authorities, all of which are protected under the State Constitution.

For many years, South African politics was dominated by the Zondo Commission and its broad findings about corruption and state capture in the Zuma administration. The Commission highlights the significance of South Africa’s independent media, civil society, judiciary and investigating authorities, all of which are protected under the State Constitution.

The origins of the Commission date to 2016, when the Constitutional Court ruled that President Zuma had to pay the state back millions of dollars for luxury renovations of his home that Zuma had claimed were necessary for security. This ruling led to a fuller investigation at the request of the opposition party. The Public Prosecutor, one of six independent state institutions established to protect democracy, issued a report in 2017 detailing widespread corruption in the Zuma administration. He recommended establishment of a full judicial commission to investigate corruption and fraud by public and private individuals.

Despite President Zuma’s strong objections, the High Court ruled that the recommendations were binding under the constitution’s Chapter 9 and the Constitutional Court named the special commission’s members in January 2018. The Commission (named after the deputy chief justice, Raymond Zondo, who led it) held public hearings over three years and issued five reports in the spring of 2022. The reports detailed a wide range of corruption and fraud by public and private individuals, most notably the Gupta family.

The Guptas’ relationship with the regional governor of the Free State, President Zuma and other officials were found to corrupt the South African State Airways, state-owned enterprises, the State Security Service, the Tax Service and other public offices in a manner aimed to permanently “capture” the state to the benefit of both Zuma and the Guptas’ media, mining and other economic holdings.

The Guptas’ relationship with the regional governor of the Free State, President Zuma and other officials were found to corrupt the South African State Airways, state-owned enterprises, the State Security Service, the Tax Service and other public offices in a manner aimed to permanently “capture” the state to the benefit of both Zuma and the Guptas’ media, mining and other economic holdings.

The ANC majority in parliament forced Zuma to resign when the Zondo Commission was established in 2018. He was replaced by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, a political rival and business tycoon who had previously led the black South African Miners Union during the anti-apartheid struggle. Zuma testified before the Commission after resigning but stonewalled on all questions, claiming a conspiracy against him. He then refused to return. In early 2021, after lengthy appeals, he was ordered by the Constitutional Court to appear before the Commission and answer its questions truthfully. When Zuma still refused, he was found in contempt, sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment and jailed in July 2021.

Upholding the court’s rulings and holding Zuma to account proved difficult, however. The Department of Correctional Services, headed by a Zuma ally, released the former president on medical parole just two months after he had been jailed. Nearly two years later, the Constitutional Court upheld on appeal a district court ruling ordering Zuma to serve his full sentence despite claimed medical conditions. Zuma reported to prison in August 2023 but the Department of Correctional Services again quickly released him, this time as part of a nationwide release of non-violent offenders to reduce prison overcrowding. He would then leave the ANC to form a new party for the 2024 election (see below).

Current Issues

South Africa has had a stable democracy since emerging from apartheid in 1994. But following its first president, Nelson Mandela, the country’s democratically elected leadership has had a record of poor administration, corruption and abuse of power. Today, the country faces many political and economic challenges as the political memory of the anti-apartheid struggle fades.

Cyril Ramaphosa, who assumed the presidency after Jacob Zuma’s resignation in 2018, was elected to a full presidential term in 2019 as the ANC’s leader after it won a solid parliamentary majority in elections. Its vote, however, was reduced to 57 percent from 62 percent in 2014. Ramaphosa had pledged political renewal and to rid the government of corruption but he faced questions about his own role in the Zuma administration. When the Zondo Commission issued its final reports in 2022 (see above), it concluded that Ramaphosa did not participate in the overall scheme of state capture but found his claims that he tried to combat fraud as deputy president lacked credibility.

Ramaphosa publicly accepted the Zondo Commission findings and fulfilled its recommendations for criminal investigations and anti-corruption procedures. The Prosecuting Authority undertook investigations of a number of individuals named in the Zondo Commission report and indicted the Gupta brothers, who were detained in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE, their new residence. But the UAE freed them after refusing extradition requests by both South Africa and India, where they faced similar charges.

Ramaphosa was embroiled in further controversy in 2021, when he directed the State Security Service to conduct a secret investigation of the theft of $580,000 in cash from his private home. His order violated established procedures for public accountability and raised concerns of possible money laundering. Initially, the Prosecutor’s Office concluded that Ramaphosa’s account of the money, which he claimed was a cash purchase of buffalo on his private gaming farm, lacked credibility. But Ramaphosa withstood a vote for impeachment in the National Assembly and was re-elected ANC chairman. The Public Protector, another independent institution that investigates state malfeasance, issued a report in March 2023 determining there was no impropriety in the livestock sale or in the report of the theft.

The African National Congress faced increasing opposition to its long-standing governance in public opinion polling due to continued economic disparity; cronyism in government appointments and contracting; and the fall-out from the Zondo Commission and public investigations of President Ramaphosa. Continuing conditions of poverty and inequality led to anti-immigrant protests and even violence against some of South Africa’s 4 million immigrants, more than half coming from Zimbabwe, whose economy is in crisis under a harsh dictatorship.

As it weathered losses in local elections and by-elections, the ANC further split when Jacob Zuma launched a new party called uMkhonto weSizwe or MK. Many ANC members supporting Zuma’s populist platform for redistribution of wealth joined the party. (uMkhonto weSizwe, meaning “Spear of the Nation in Zulu, was the name of the ANC’s military wing. Zuma headed its intelligence department.)

Parliamentary elections held on May 28, 2024, South Africa’s sixth free national election since 1994, saw a major shift in the country’s politics, with no party winning a parliamentary majority for the first time. More than fifty-five parties competed and a total of eighteen parties won seats. But only 57 percent of eligible voters participated — down from 89 percent in 1999 and 66 percent in 2019.

The ANC fell from 57 to 40 percent of the vote (winning 159 of the 400 seats in the National Assembly). The new populist party of Jacob Zuma, MK, won 14.5 percent of the vote (58 seats), reflecting the base of ANC voters still loyal to its former leader. The liberal Democratic Alliance, remained the largest opposition party, improving slightly to 22 percent (89 seats), while the left opposition party, Economic Freedom Fighters, largely kept its share of the vote at 9.5 percent (39 seats). Seven smaller parties won the remaining seats, including: the conservative Inkatha Freedom Party, with a base in KwaZulu-Natal (4 percent and 17 seats); the national conservative Patriotic Alliance (2 percent and 9 seats); the far-right Freedom Front Plus (1.3 percent and 6 seats); and ActionSA, a largely black splinter party that broke from the increasingly white-dominated Democratic Alliance (1.2 percent and 6 seats). Ten other parties won a total of 19 seats.

With the splintered results, the ANC sought to form a unity government. The more liberal and conservative parties favoring more business interests — the Democratic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, and Patriotic Alliance — agreed, indicating the ANC’s intentions to continue its more liberal and business-oriented economic policies. The populist MK and left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), formed competing elements of the opposition, together with the other smaller parties. Cyril Ramaphosa was elected president by 283 votes to 54 for the EFF’s Julius Malema, who had led the ANC Youth Division before leaving the party. An expanded 32-member cabinet divided ministries with the ANC having twenty posts, the DA six and the four other parties dividing 6 posts. The DA’s leader, John Steenhuisen, was appointed as agriculture minister.

Among South Africa’s many challenges remains the high incidence of HIV infection (one in five residents), the ongoing result of President Mbeki’s non-intervention policy (see above). A public campaign led by former president Nelson Mandela helped impel the next administration of Jacob Zuma to implement substantive public health prevention measures and adopt retroviral treatments. (These were made widely available through foreign philanthropic and government funding.) The death rate from HIV infection has fallen substantially: life expectancy, which had fallen to 48 years, has returned to 1990 levels of 64 years. The consequence remains: there were an estimated 2 million orphans due to deaths from AIDS.

Notably, improvements in public health measures related to AIDS helped to reduce the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. South Africa’s medical facilities were the first to discover some variants of the disease, helping to prevent new infections.