A leading figure in South Africa's second biggest political party has warned that a failure to fix the economy "might end up with violence that nobody wants".
"These issues include job creation and the growth of our economy that will be inclusive, the high cost of living, service delivery, crime and corruption," he said recently.It is one of the highest in the world and has been called a "ticking time bomb" in a UN report. The central bank says foreign investment fell by a third last year, given the difficulties of trading in a country that the International Monetary Fund forecasts will nonetheless return to being Africa’s biggest by the end of this year.
The competition for investment is fierce and Ms Mavuso says "we've really made it difficult for capital to land here". "Business opportunities for young people" must be the new government’s priority, says unemployed 23-year-old Tebogo Mokobane. "I've been looking for a job for two years as an animator and I couldn't find anything so far."
The Economic Freedom Fighters - the fourth largest party - has called for greater nationalisation and the expropriation of land so that the wealth of the country can be more evenly shared. Looking at the electricity problem, the DA's Dion George says that it is "probably" important for the government to borrow money to fix the country’s crippled energy network, railways and ports. But he admits that will be difficult to afford.