1994 marked the first democratically-elected President of South Africa taking control of the country and its well-being.
The late Nelson Mandela was the first man charged with steering the country into a prosperous future, with his first and only term running from 1994 to 1999.
Following Mandela was Thabo Mbeki, who lead South Africa from 1999 to 2004. He was reelected for a second term, which was cut short in 2008 due to, in part, ANC party politics.
Kgalema Motlante stepped in for a year before current president Jacob Zuma took control.
Zuma served his first term from 2009 to 2014, after which he was reelected – due to serve from 2014 to 2019.
Performance of South Africa’s presidents
To see how South Africa’s three presidents have fared while in charge, we compared the strength of the rand (exchange rate vs US$), the murder rate, unemployment numbers, and GDP growth during their time in office.
The infographics below detail how Mandela, Mbeki, and Zuma compare against one another, based on the above metrics.
It should be noted that Mandela helped South Africa transition to an inclusive society, which saw big increases in data collected across all demographic groups.
The natural economic recovery following the global slump in 2007 and 2008 was also taken into account.
