LIFE in South Africa often feels like a roller coaster. One minute we’re up, the next we’re down, plunged into that familiar hell of darkness.
Last year was a pretty wild ride and all indications point toward the old roller coaster doing its mad twists and turns again in 2023. So hold on tight, people! Things are going to be rough – and leading the way is the behemoth we can always count on to drag us down: Eskom.
Yet it isn’t all doom and gloom. For starters, Cyril Ramaphosa is still our president – and like him or loathe him, stability is what our vulnerable democracy so desperately needs.
Experts unpack the good, the bad and the ugly as we head into 2023.
THE GOOD
CYRIL SURVIVED
The president was always expected to retain his leadership at the ruling party’s elective conference at Nasrec in December – until Phala Phala happened. Ramaphosa had to be talked off the ledge of resignation by his senior ministers and advisers and his future wasn’t looking certain.
But he beat Zweli Mkhize, his only real competitor, to the presidency by a big margin and many South Africans heaved a sigh of relief – as did the rand, which strengthened immediately.
“Ramaphosa’s re-election shows
