African National Congress Draws 62 Percent of the Vote in South Africa

As the final ballots of South Africa’s fifth post-apartheid election were tallied on Friday, the results handed the governing African National Congress a victory with 62 percent of the vote — nearly the same share it won in 1994, the year it assumed power under Nelson Mandela in the nation’s f irst truly democratic election.

Supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters, wearing berets. A new party, it vaulted past many older parties to finish third. CreditBen Curtis/Associated Press

But the nearly identical results mask glaring differences between the two periods, during which the party has been transformed from a liberation movement that inspired South Africans, as well as Africans on the rest of the continent, to a political party buffeted by corruption, popular disillusionment and widespread complaints that it has strayed from the masses it says it represents.

Governments who now worship Nelson Mandela once called him a terrorist

When Mandela wasn’t the messiah

Governments around the world, who now officially worship Nelson Mandela, once called him a terrorist and did deals with South Africa’s apartheid regime.

In S. Africa, former ANC youth leader is a divisive figure

Julius Malema may be South Africa’s most controversial personality. The former leader of the African National Congress youth wing has called for the seizure of white-owned farms in a nation still grappling with its racial divides. He has said the country’s mines should be nationalized, making foreign investors nervous.

His most incendiary act yet may be his public rendition of an apartheid-era song that included a call to kill whites. That was enough for the ANC leadership to expel Malema earlier this year, accusing him of sowing divisions within their ranks.