South Africa’s President Ramaphosa blames voter apathy for party’s majority loss

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says the African National Congress (ANC) performed poorly in the May 29 elections because many people in some of the country’s large cities such as Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Durban withheld their votes out of dissatisfaction with the provision of services where they live. He spoke Sunday at the opening of the ANC National Executive Committee’s (NEC) lekgotla, or roundtable. Ramaphosa also said that voters punished the ANC for its failure to deliver economic growth and the collapse of services such as electricity. He said the ANC chose a government of national unity as the best way to address the shortcomings and respond to voters who are unhappy with the ANC. Professor Sipho Seepe, a political analyst and former Deputy Vice Chancellor for Institutional Support at the University of Zululand, tells VOA’s James Butty, the ANC should have begun its self-assessment by first owning its failures