South Africa’s Ramaphosa secures ruling coalition, but allies hold veto
Al Jazeera
An 11th hour deal between the ANC and traditional rivals has led to the country’s first coalition government.
Cape Town, South Africa — Late-night negotiations and an eleventh-hour agreement set the stage for the formation of South Africa’s first ever coalition government on Friday, with President Cyril Ramaphosa at its head.
The multiparty coalition signed on its agreement only on Friday, as members of Parliament were sworn in after marathon negotiations and back-and-forth calls between Ramaphosa and leaders of other parties.
On Friday evening, Ramaphosa was poised to be elected as the country’s president in Parliament. Under the unprecedented coalition agreement, the Democratic Alliance (DA), the ANC’s official opposition until now, and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), are expected to vote for an ANC president for the first time.
The multiparty coalition was prompted after the ANC suffered its worst electoral decline in 30 years. The party holds 159 of 400 seats in Parliament – short of the 201 seats needed to have a majority – after winning 40 percent of the vote in the country’s May 29 election.
After days of internal talks within the ANC, Ramaphosa announced last week that the party would seek a “government of national unity”. But the left-leaning EFF and former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK Party) — which was created months before the election and ate into the ANC’s traditional voter support — refused to join the government, especially with the DA a part of it. The MK Party had also demanded Ramaphosa’s removal from the presidency.
