Cyril Ramaphosa faces a daunting task if he wins South Africa’s election

ON A SATURDAY evening in Soweto there are few better places than Chaf Pozi. Beers are flowing, meat is grilling and patrons are dancing with a sense of rhythm and abandon that is alien to a journalist from The Economist. It is an exhilarating spectacle. It is also a revealing one, for it hints at progress made by South Africa in the 25 years since the end of apartheid, the brutal system of white rule formally established in 1948. At the restaurant in the Johannesburg township, patrons paying upwards of 140 rand ($10) for a meal are mostly from the black middle class, which has grown since 1994. They mix easily with a smattering of white revellers.

The world pays less attention to South Africa than it did a generation ago. Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990, and his victory in the country’s first democratic elections four years later, captured the global imagination. Though interest has waned, the country, which goes to the polls on May 8th, still matters. Partly this is for material reasons. South Africa is the most industrialised economy in Africa, the continent’s business hub and its most influential actor on the global stage. Yet just as important is its symbolism. If it were to overcome its history of repression and racism, that would offer hope to all countries, in Africa and beyond.