JOHANNESBURG, Feb 7 — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will announce the date of this year’s general election later this month, his spokesman said today.

"If you count from tomorrow, the president will announce the election date within 15 days,” Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told reporters.

Political analysts say record power cuts, poor service delivery and high levels of unemployment are likely to hurt the governing African National Congress (ANC) party that Ramaphosa, 71, leads, threatening the loss of its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.

Ramaphosa, who has struggled to rekindle economic growth since taking over from his scandal-plagued predecessor Jacob Zuma in 2018, will seek a second term as president.

Voters will elect a new National Assembly as well as the provincial legislature in each of the country’s nine provinces.

The National Assembly elects the president after the vote. — Reuters