For over three decades, the African National Congress (ANC) has held the reins of power in South Africa, promising a transformed nation built on the ashes of apartheid.
The vision was grand: rebuild the economy, create jobs, reduce debt, curb crime and corruption, improve schools, bolster infrastructure, and address historical injustices like land ownership. Yet, as 2025 unfolds, many South Africans see these promises as little more than an illusion—a mirage shimmering over a landscape of unfulfilled potential and deepening crises.
The Economy and Jobs: Promises Unkept
The ANC often touts its commitment to economic growth and job creation, yet the reality paints a starkly different picture. Unemployment hovers above 30%, with youth unemployment nearing 60%, among the highest globally. Once a powerhouse, South Africa’s economy has stagnated, averaging barely 1% growth annually over the past 15 years. State-owned enterprises like Eskom, Transnet, and SAA—meant to drive economic activity—lie in ruins, crippled by mismanagement and corruption. The government’s response? Policies like a proposed VAT hike, rejected in February 2025, which would have squeezed ordinary citizens further to fund public sector salaries rather than spark growth. The DA’s counterproposal—stimulating the economy through reforms like privatizing ports and railways—was ignored, leaving the jobless to fend for themselves in an economy tethered to debt and decline.
Debt: A Growing Burden
South Africa’s national debt has ballooned to over R5 trillion, a figure that looms large over any talk of rebuilding. The ANC’s reliance on bailouts—R50 billion annually for Eskom alone—has drained the Treasury, with little to show for it. Municipal debt to Eskom exceeds R100 billion, rising by R18 billion yearly, while taxpayers and paying electricity customers foot the bill through higher tariffs or subsidies. The illusion here is that this borrowing fuels progress; instead, it papers over systemic failures, leaving future generations to pay the price.
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Crime and Corruption: A Persistent Plague
Crime and corruption fester under ANC governance, undermining any notion of a safer, fairer South Africa. Murder rates remain among the world’s highest, with over 27,000 recorded annually. Organized crime syndicates—construction mafias, illegal mining networks, and Eskom-linked cartels—bleed the economy of R155 billion yearly, by some estimates. The World Bank pegs crime’s cost at 10% of GDP, yet the ANC’s response lacks urgency. Police Minister Bheki Cele’s tenure has been marked by inaction, while law enforcement agencies, hollowed out by state capture, struggle to cope. Corruption scandals, from VBS Mutual Bank to Bosasa, implicate ANC elites, yet accountability remains elusive. The promise of a corruption-free state is overshadowed by a reality where the party itself is entwined with the problem.
Murders: A Grim Reflection
The soaring murder rate is not just a statistic—it’s a daily tragedy that exposes the ANC’s failure to secure its people. Communities live in fear as gangsterism, drug trafficking, and mob justice rise unchecked. The South African Police Service, underfunded and undermined, cannot stem the tide. The ANC’s rhetoric of strengthening law enforcement rings hollow when emergency call centers drop millions of calls yearly due to understaffing, and rural areas lack basic policing.
Expropriation of Land: Reform or Ruse?
Land reform, a cornerstone of ANC policy, promised redress for historical dispossession but has morphed into a political football. The Expropriation Act, debated fiercely in 2025, aims to enable land seizure without compensation—a move critics like the DA decry as a threat to property rights and economic stability. Progress has been glacial: restitution claims from 1994 languish, and redistribution favors a tiny elite of aspiring black commercial farmers over the millions of poor smallholders. The ANC’s focus on large-scale farming models ignores evidence that smallholder support could create a million jobs. Instead, the policy seems more about consolidating power than rebuilding lives.
Schools: A Failing Foundation
Education, heralded as the key to upliftment, is crumbling under ANC stewardship. South Africa ranks near the bottom globally in literacy, science, and math outcomes. School feeding schemes, vital for impoverished children, are riddled with corruption, while infrastructure—like pit latrines in rural schools—remains a national disgrace decades after democracy dawned. The ANC’s inability to fund and manage education effectively leaves a generation ill-equipped for the future, perpetuating poverty rather than breaking it.
Infrastructure: Decay Over Development
From potholed roads to collapsing rail networks, South Africa’s infrastructure tells a story of neglect. Eskom’s energy crisis, with 17 years of load-shedding, chokes businesses and households alike. Transnet’s inefficiencies strangle exports, and water shortages plague cities and towns. The ANC points to grand plans—like passenger train upgrades—but these are dwarfed by losses from theft, vandalism, and ghost vending, costing Eskom R27 billion annually. The unbundling of Eskom exposed a R27 billion hole in its distribution arm, a loss once hidden in the utility’s opaque finances. Rebuilding? It’s more like watching decay in slow motion.
The Illusion Unveiled
The ANC’s narrative of rebuilding South Africa hinges on a legacy of liberation, but that goodwill has eroded under the weight of its failures. Corruption and incapacity, not transformation, define its tenure. The Government of National Unity, formed after the ANC lost its majority in 2024, offered hope, but tensions—like the VAT showdown—reveal a party still clinging to old habits. The DA and others push for pragmatic fixes, yet the ANC’s class bias and reliance on bailouts suggest little appetite for real change.
South Africans aren’t blind to this illusion. Polls show declining support, with the ANC dipping below 50% in 2021 local elections. The poor, once its base, toil in survival mode, too burdened to organize the “pressure from below” needed to shift policy. Meanwhile, the party’s elite prosper, leaving the nation to wonder: who is this rebuilding for? Until the ANC confronts its own illusions—abandoning populist ploys for genuine reform—South Africa’s dreams of jobs, stability, and justice will remain just that: dreams.
