South Africa: Current Issues, Economy, and U.S. Relations
South Africa: Current Issues, Economy, and U.S. Relations Updated September 17, 2020 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R45687 SUMMARY R45687 South Africa: Current Issues, Economy, and September 17, 2020 U.S. Relations Nicolas Cook South Africa, a majority black, multiracial country of nearly 60 million people, has cordial Specialist in African Affairs relations with the United States, notwithstanding periodic strains, and is the largest U.S. trade partner in Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa took office in 2018, after a series of corruption scandals under the administration of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma. Zuma, elected in 2009, resigned under intense pressure in early 2018, shortly after then-Vice President Ramaphosa was elected to replace Zuma as leader of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s dominant party. The ANC has held a parliamentary majority since the first universal suffrage elections in 1994, which marked the end of apartheid, a system of codified state racial bias favoring whites, but is facing headwinds. In the last general elections, in May 2019, it earned 57.5% of the vote—its lowest margin ever. South Africa has Africa’s largest Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caseload and a rapidly accelerating outbreak, which has devastated the economy and sharply intensified prior challenges facing the government. Notable among these are years of anemic economic growth and corruption linked to Zuma and a network of business and political associates tied to him. Such graft was so systematic that it was dubbed “state capture.” Multiple efforts to address this problem are underway, including a high-profile commission of judicial inquiry.
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