The ANC and DA reached an agreement to form a government of national unity in South Africa
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) have agreed to form a national unity government, along with two smaller opposition parties.
This follows weeks of speculation over who the ANC will partner with after losing its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years, in last month’s election.
It received 40% of the vote, while the DA came in second with 22%.
The agreement paves the way for ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa to continue as president.
Newly elected lawmakers will elect the president later on Friday, when Parliament meets for the first time since the May 29 election.
They will meet at a conference center in Cape Town because the parliament complex has been built. damaged by fire many years ago.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said the coalition deal was on track and the agreement with opposition parties was a “remarkable step”.
“We are participating in what needs to be done to form a national unity government,” he said. Our work does not stop.”
A coalition between the centre-right DA and the ANC is unprecedented as the two parties have been rivals for decades.
The ANC led by Nelson Mandela led the campaign against the apartheid system in 1994 and won the country’s first democratic elections.
Critics of the DA have accused it of trying to protect economic privileges enjoyed by the country’s white minority during the apartheid era – a charge the party denies.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said the deal was a “new chapter in our history”.
He told journalists that in exchange for the DA’s support for Mr Ramaphosa, the ANC would support the DA’s Annelie Lotriet as deputy speaker of parliament.
He also said the power-sharing agreement would involve cabinet positions for the DA, which has hitherto been an opposition party.
The deal also includes the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), a conservative party with a strong Zulu base, which holds 4% of the vote, and the Patriotic Alliance (PA), which draws support from the black community. color, as people of many different races. known race in South Africa.
The agreement also includes powerful local authorities in the key provinces of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
“The country made it clear through the vote that it does not want one party to dominate our society,” Mr Steenhuisen said.
IFP’s Thami Ntuli has been elected prime minister of KwaZulu-Natal. It is a setback for former President Jacob Zuma, who hoped his uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party would lead the province, where it won the most votes but fell short of a majority.
Despite being billed as a Government of National Unity, the ANC was unable to convince the third and fourth largest parties – MK and Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – to join.
The coalition agreement is likely to be welcomed by the business sector, who say it will ensure economic stability and avoid capital flight as it does not involve the EFF and MK, who support Support the nationalization of land, mines and banks.
MK had made Ramaphosa’s resignation one of the conditions for joining the coalition, but the ANC rejected it.
Mr Malema said on Thursday evening that the EFF had refused to join a government that included the DA, saying it was part of the “imperialist agenda”.
The ANC’s agreement with the DA and IFP is seen as an attempt to promote racial and ethnic reconciliation after a tense election campaign.
President Ramaphosa has previously accused the DA – which draws support mainly from ethnic minority groups – of being “treasonous” and “reactionary”.
The ANC was deeply divided over the deal with the DA, with some senior leaders – supported by their allies in the trade union movement and the South African Communist Party (SACP) – preferring an alliance with the EFF and smaller parties or MKs.
But Mr Ramaphosa is said to prefer an alliance with the DA and IFP, seeing them as the most reliable partners to tackle South Africa’s economic crisis and crumbling infrastructure.
One of the major obstacles will be the DA’s fierce opposition to the ANC’s efforts to create a welfare state – especially a welfare state. The National Health Service is funded by the governmentwhich the DA rejects, saying it is too expensive and threatens the future of the private healthcare sector.
The DA also vehemently opposed the ANC’s black economic empowerment policies, seeing them as discriminatory against racial minorities while simply leading to the enrichment of fellow ANC’s business arm – something the ANC denies.
While the agreement is an important step, Mr. Steenhuisen acknowledged that South Africa’s problems, such as crime and the economy, will not be “solved overnight” and “The road ahead will be very difficult.”
