NEWS- South Africa’s Parliament has re-elected Cyril Ramaphosa as the country’s president following a landmark coalition deal between the governing African National Congress and opposition parties.
The new government of national unity combines Ramaphosa’s African National Congress with the Centre-right Democratic Alliance and other smaller parties.
The agreement was made out on a high political drama, which saw South Africa’s National Assembly sitting late into last night for votes to confirm who will hold power in the new administration.
Earlier yesterday, a deal was struck following weeks of speculation about who the African National Congress would partner with after losing its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years in last month’s elections when it got 40% of the vote, while the Democratic Alliance came second with 22%.
African National Congress Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula called the coalition deal a remarkable step and this means that Ramaphosa who replaced Jacob Zuma as both President and ANC leader following a bitter power struggle in 2018 – was able to retain power.
The African National Congress had always polled above 50% since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994, which saw Nelson Mandela become president, however, support for the party has been dropping significantly because of anger over high levels of corruption, unemployment and crime.
An alliance between the centre-right Democratic Alliance and the African National Congress is unprecedented as the two parties have been rivals for decades as the Democratic Alliance critics have accused it of trying to protect the economic privileges the country’s white minority built up during apartheid, a charge ANC denies.
Under Nelson Mandela, the African National Congress, led the campaign against the racist system of apartheid in 1994 and won the country’s first democratic elections.
While addressing Members of Parliament yesterday in Cape Town, John Steenhuisen, the leader of the Democratic Alliance said that it was a historic day for South Africa country and it is the start of a new chapter as the National Assembly also swore in a Speaker from the Africa National Congress while the post of Deputy speaker went to the Democratic Alliance.
