"I think South Africa has achieved a lot in terms of democracy, it is a very strong democracy in all spheres of democratic platforms, be it media, judiciary and politics, South Africa has done far better than many countries, in 30 years we have had about five presidents, which is a record by African standards," he said.

The South African researcher indicated that despite the "difficulties" the country has registered "positive economic growth, although in single digits", stressing that "since the beginning of democracy there has been constant growth", unlike many other countries, which had "a severe recession".

South Africa, the continent's most developed economy, today marks the first three decades of democracy under the governance of the African National Congress (ANC), the former nationalist liberation movement led by Mandela, which ended the rule of the previous 'apartheid' regime in 1994.

Thembisa Fakude considered that the country had a "good performance" in democratic terms, stressing that "social and political demands remain".

"It is difficult to compare South Africa with anything that has had similar experiences, because there has been nothing like this country, which inherited racial development, discrimination and separate development in terms of political, social and economic development", he stressed.  

The ruling ANC has registered an electoral decline in the last 15 years, from 65.9% in 2008 to 57.50% of the votes in 2019, in addition to accusations of corruption, unemployment and the near bankruptcy of public companies.

In this sense, when asked if the ANC had fulfilled the social project of the 'Rainbow Nation' of historical leader Nelson Mandela, the researcher replied: "I think they did, (...) if we look at what the ANC inherited in 1994 and where we are now in terms of race relations and all the other challenges that came with it".

"But the most important thing is that we know the ANC's problems because of the transparency of society, the reason why the ANC is in its current situation is because the party itself implemented systems that monitor it and that is why we all know about all types of corruption", he stressed.

When comparing with the social and economic reality in which the black majority lived until the end of the previous 'apartheid' regime in 1994, Thembisa Fakude gave the example of her grandmother, who died in democracy, to highlight the changes implemented by the ANC in the last three decades.

"My late grandmother told me that before 1994 they did not have access to water, and when she died she had access to water, she could walk a few meters away to the bathroom, she had a subsidy that she received in her own bank account, there was a clinic not far from where she lived, I'm not saying it's widespread, but definitely there were changes", she stressed.

"In terms of the professional black middle class there has been a rise (...), if we look at the institutions that are currently run by blacks compared to what there was in 1994, there has been a fantastic achievement, but there are many challenges and problems that the ANC continues to face and must solve, one of them is the provision of [public] services, employment, but they also made the mistake of promising many things to people, including free housing and much more", he said.

The Africa Asia Dialogues is a think tank created in 2021, in Johannesburg, in partnership with the Common Action Forum (CAF) based in Madrid, Spain, with the aim of "fostering public interest in geopolitics and its impact on the lives of the peoples of Africa and Asia", according to Thembisa Fakude.

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