The ANC's free-fall, the return of Jacob Zuma and a new era of coalitions.
South Africa's governing African National Congress looks set to lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since Nelson Mandela led it to victory at the end of the racist system of apartheid in 1994.
It marks a generational divide in South Africa - their parents are still loyal to the ANC, as they lived through apartheid and know, first-hand, the ANC's rich history as a liberation movement that freed black people from the chains of apartheid."The ANC lost support in the big cities a long time ago. Now it is losing support in rural areas as well," Prof Gumede told the BBC.
President Ramaphosa released Mr Zuma after he served only three months of his sentence in an attempt to placate him and his angry supporters. His conviction means he is barred from taking a seat in the National Assembly but he is still able to pull the strings from behind the scenes. The former president also pledged to increase the powers of all of South Africa's kings and chiefs, who currently have ceremonial powers and assist the government to bring about development in rural areas where they wield influence.
Mr Ramaphosa led the ANC into a lacklustre election campaign, and the party became so desperate that it got former President Thabo Mbeki - as well as other retired party leaders - to join the campaign in a bid to bolster its vote. Any coalition deal at national level would be influenced by what happens in the provinces - especially the most populous ones of Gauteng, home to Johannesburg and Pretoria, and KwaZulu-Natal.
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