Cyril Ramaphosa Reelected as SA President after Coalition Deal with Opposition
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s reelection concludes two weeks of negotiations between the ruling African National Congress and several opposition parties.
What is arguably the most eventful two weeks in South African politics since the beginning of democracy 30 years ago, has finally come to an end. President Cyril Ramaphosa of the African National Congress (ANC) has been reelected as president of South Africa for a second term. Ramaphosa was reelected after defeating the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Julius Malema by 283 votes to 44 at the first sitting of the newly-elected parliament where they were both nominated for the position of president.
Ramaphosa’s election caps off days of deliberations between the ruling ANC and opposition parties on what the new government will look like. For the first time ever, the ANC failed to secure an outright majority in the polls on May 29, and by constitution, needed to form a coalition government with other parties.
Just before the first sitting of South Africa’s seventh parliament, the ANC announced that it had reached a deal to form a “government of national unity,” proposed by Ramaphosa, with its main opposition, Democratic Alliance (DA). The deal also includes the Patriotic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party.
South Africa’s former minister of agriculture, Thoko Didiza of the ANC, was earlier elected as the speaker of the National Assembly, with Annelie Lotriet of the DA elected as deputy, which is all part of the ANC-DA agreement.
The ANC’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, during a press briefing on Thursday, said that his party believes that a government of national unity is reflective of the elections’ outcome. “We have been supported and voted by 6 million people who want us to continue with the transformational agenda to change the lives of the people for the better. We are in no position to govern this country alone. We need to work with others where we are not in charge,” he said.
“Today marks the beginning of a new era where we put our differences aside and unite for the betterment of all South Africans. We remain humble and continue to serve in the 7th administration, selflessly,” Sihle Zikalala, a member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee, said in an X post.
The other details of how this arrangement is going to function will be ironed out later, although the DA has said it “will play a greater role in parliament and national government, taking up significant positions in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.”
While the ANC-DA scenario is favored by large businesses and international investors due to the DA’s free-market policies, many believe it does not prioritize the needs of the majority of South Africans.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Malema said that his party was aware of the deal the ANC was finalizing with the DA and other parties.
“As we said before, the EFF will not participate in a government that includes right-wing and reactionary political parties. These right and neo-liberal parties represent the reactionary, counter-revolutionary and neo-colonial agenda which seeks to protect the existing property relations in South Africa, where the white supremacy [sic] continue to be the economic majority,” he said.
The former President Jacobo Zuma-led new party, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) had earlier said it will boycott the first sitting, but it is unclear if the party’s elected MPs kept to their word today. With 14.58 percent of the votes in the May election, their absence did not affect the proceedings as only a third of the 400 lawmakers are needed to elect the president, per the constitution.