‘South Africa could become failed state’

South Africa could become a “failed state” but has yet to reach that point, a senior official of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has said.

The admission by ANC Secretary, General Fikile Mbalula, comes as South Africa experiences power cuts, known as load-shedding, of up to 10 hours a day.

“This load-shedding has just made a mess of our country,” he told the BBC’s HARDtalk programme.

The power cuts have wors­ened South Africa’s economic crisis. The country is also bat­tling high levels of corruption, all of which has damaged confi­dence in the ANC government.

“If certain things are not re­solved, we will become a failed state, but we are not journeying towards that direction,” Mr Mbalula said in an exclusive in­terview with BBC HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur.

“South Africa is undergoing challenges like many other countries but I think to put it into the category of a failed state is an exaggeration,” he added. —BBC