South Africans go to the polls next week only days for the sixth national election held in the country’s democratic era. The 2019 poll comes at a time when many citizens have lost some enthusiasm for the democratic process, owing to years of poor delivery and rampant corruption. The election is also the most highly contested since the country’s breakthrough 1994 poll. The African National Congress (ANC) is, nevertheless, still expected to prevail. What will be closely watched, however, is the size of the ANC’s majority, as well as whether or not it will be able to secure a majority in key provincial battleground of Gauteng. Photograph: Waldo Swiegers for Bloomberg