Washington, D.C. – As South Africa commemorates Freedom Day, marking thirty-one years since its historic democratic transition, a groundbreaking scholarly report released by the Liberty Values & Strategy Foundation (LVS Foundation) asserts that the African National Congress (ANC) has systematically betrayed its constitutional mandate through the institutionalization of necropolitical governance. This paradigm, defined by the state’s orchestration of premature death through structural violence and systemic neglect, meets the threshold for crimes against humanity under international law, according to the study.

NECROPOLITICS AS A FRAMEWORK OF STATE VIOLENCE

The report, titled The ANC’s Post-Apartheid Governance: A Structural Betrayal of Constitutional Mandates and Human Rights Obligations, employs Achille Mbembe’s theoretical framework of necropolitics-the exercise of sovereignty through determining who may live and who must die. It argues that the ANC has weaponized state apparatuses to perpetuate racialized suffering, with homicide rates under its governance reaching 40 per 100,000 inhabitants, a figure nearly sevenfold the global average. This escalation represents a 48-fold increase compared to apartheid-era mortality rates, culminating in over 678,000 documented murders since 1994.

STRUCTURAL NEGLECT AND RACIALIZED POLICING

The analysis highlights a deliberate under-resourcing of law enforcement in Black townships, where 92% of violent deaths occur, despite 80% of policing resources being allocated to affluent, predominantly non-Black suburbs. Detectives in high-crime regions grapple with caseloads exceeding 150 cases per officer, resulting in an 87% unresolved homicide rate. Such disparities, the report contends, reflect a calculated strategy of abandonment, wherein marginalized communities are rendered vulnerable to criminal impunity and state-sanctioned deprivation.

COMPARATIVE MORTALITY AND INTERNATIONAL LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

The cumulative death toll under ANC governance now surpasses the combined fatalities of the Rwandan Genocide (800,000) and the Bosnian War (100,000), starkly illustrating the scale of systemic failure. By situating these findings within the Rome Statute’s definition of crimes against humanity-particularly Article 7, which criminalizes widespread attacks against civilian populations-the report posits that the ANC’s policies constitute “extermination” through indirect means, including deprivation of healthcare, food security, and physical safety.

ECONOMIC VIOLENCE AND HUMANITARIAN CONSEQUENCES

Beyond direct violence, the study critiques the ANC’s perpetuation of economic apartheid, wherein 62% of Black South Africans live below the poverty line, compared to 1% of white citizens. This disparity, exacerbated by unemployment rates exceeding 45% in townships, entrenches a cycle of precarity that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has previously recognized as a form of structural violence under its jurisdiction.

CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND REFORM 

In light of these findings, the LVS Foundation urges multilateral institutions and member states to:

1. Advocate for ICC Article 15 Referrals: Petition the ICC Prosecutor to initiate proprio motu investigations into ANC officials for crimes against humanity, citing systemic failure to protect citizens from violence and deprivation.

2. Convene Emergency UN Human Rights Council Session: Leverage Resolution 48/13, which recognizes access to a clean environment as a human right, to address environmental racism in townships where toxic waste and inadequate infrastructure exacerbate public health crises.

3. Condition Bilateral Aid on Constitutional Reforms: Demand overhauls of policing budgets, independent oversight of resource allocation, and the dissolution of parallel security structures that perpetuate inequality.

The report concludes that Freedom Day must evolve from a commemoration of past triumphs into a reckoning with present failures. Only through international pressure and institutional accountability, it argues, can South Africa dismantle the necropolitical machinery that has subverted its democratic promise.