South Africa's May election will be the country's most competitive vote in 30 years, testing the dominance of the ruling African National Congress party, or ANC. In one of the most likely scenarios, the ANC loses its outright parliamentary majority and forms a coalition with smaller, mostly centrist parties in exchange for policy concessions such as cuts to public spending and reduced social services. These concessions heighten tensions between President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC's populist Radical Economic Transformation faction, or RET, leading to a scattered legislative agenda as Ramaphosa jockeys between coalition partners and the RET to avoid an implosion of his parliamentary majority. Government policies aimed at reining in public spending result in failed wage negotiations with unions, causing strikes and interruptions to health care, education and transportation services....
