Good morning,

Following these reports (paywall), I am going to ask you to engage with me in an intellectual exercise of comparative political economy with a simple question: Is South Africa 🇿🇦 in 2022 heading towards something similar to the uprising that took place in Tunisia 🇹🇳 in 2010?

3 things you need to know:

South Africa 🇿🇦 has the world’s #1 highest unemployment rate at 33.6%
7.7 million young South Africans are unemployed (inactive) in the labour market
40% (2 out 5) of the democratically elected presidents resigned before their term ended. 46 years of the ‘modern nation-state’ was under authoritarian rule

Coalition government much?

The South African ruling party, African National Congress (ANC) moved from electorally earning 70% (highest) of votes to 57.5% (lowest).

In the past 28 years 40% of democratically elected South African presidents resigned before their term ended. Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma (ANC) resigned before their term in office ended.

South Africa has the world’s highest unemployment rate at 33.6%. South Africa had one of the highest unemployment rates in the world in 2021. It also the second-richest country in this grouping after Botswana

7.7 million young South Africans are unemployed. South Africa has over 10 million young people aged 15-24 years and of these, only 2,5 million were in the labour force, either employed or unemployed

46 years of the modern ‘nation-state’ of South Africa was under authoritarian rule. The apartheid era in South African history refers to the time that the National Party led the country's minority government from 1948 to 1994

For accessibility I always design in a light and dark mode.

In the past 28 years 40% of democratically elected South African presidents resigned before their term ended. Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma (ANC) resigned before their term in office ended.

South Africa has the world’s highest unemployment rate at 33.6%. South Africa had one of the highest unemployment rates in the world in 2021. It also the second-richest country in this grouping after Botswana

7.7 million young South Africans are unemployed. South Africa has over 10 million young people aged 15-24 years and of these, only 2,5 million were in the labour force, either employed or unemployed

46 years of the modern ‘nation-state’ of South Africa was under authoritarian rule. The apartheid era in South African history refers to the time that the National Party led the country's minority government from 1948 to 1994

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Today I want to say thank you to everyone who continues to support Preamble. This week’s edition was an important edition for me. Even though I’ve lived in the United States 🇺🇸 and now in the European Union 🇪🇺 , I was born in South Africa 🇿🇦 and I still call it home. I still care about the future and potential of young South Africans.

Preamble

Is South Africa 🇿🇦 headed towards a…