(4 minutes read)
The leader of South Africa’s second biggest party -Democratic Alliance (DA) – said it would back Cyril Ramaphosa for president. Theoretically, this assurance pays the way for the re-election of the incumbent., if no hitch appears later, which is quite unlikely.
The leader of South Africa’s second biggest party -Democratic Alliance (DA) – said it would back Cyril Ramaphosa for president. Theoretically, this assurance pays the way for the re-election of the incumbent., if no hitch appears later, which is quite unlikely.
John Steenhuisen, the leader of the DA said there was now a signed agreement with the ANC to co-govern Africa’s most industrialized country. The agreement involves DA lawmakers backing Ramaphosa for a second term. Lawmakers are expected to elect a president later in the session. Both parties together have over 61% of the total seats of 400 in Parliament. If this happens re-election is automatic since Ramaphosa is the only candidate from ANC nominated for the President’s post.
DA party leader- the party of Whites in the country that it was going for the coalition with an open mind and commitment. He further added that Ramaphosa should continue as president because the ANC got the largest share of votes in last month’s national election. It lost its Parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994. Two other smaller parties will also be part of the governing coalition, the first coalition at the national level in South Africa’s democratic history.
The coalition was agreed in principle late on Thursday, but talks had continued throughout the night and even on the sidelines of the parliamentary session before the final details were agreed and a document signed.It brings together two of the country’s longest and fiercest political rivals, with the ANC and the DA previously at loggerheads for years as the ruling party and the main opposition. The DA has been the loudest critic of the ANC but will now likely help continue the ANC’s three-decade hold on the presidency.
It does not mean that the re-election of Ramaphosa will be without friction among political affiliations. A group of political parties including South African former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK), The African Restoration Alliance (ARA), and Allied Movement for Change expressed their discontent with May’s elections and alleged fraud.
All members of the National Assembly will be sworn in except MK Party members at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. As reported by www.trendsnafrica.com, the Constitutional Court has dismissed MK’s application to interdict the swearing-in of members of parliament.
The ANC said that it has a broad agreement with the main opposition and other parties to form a coalition government and end a political deadlock after the ANC lost its 30-year majority in an election two weeks ago. The announcement came on the eve of the first sitting of South Africa’s new Parliament when lawmakers will elect a president. South Africa’s constitution dictates that Parliament has to sit for the first time and elect a president within 14 days of the national election results being officially declared. The deadline is Sunday and Parliament was called to convene on Friday to meet that deadline.
South Africa has never had a coalition government at the national level in its three decades as a democracy since the end of apartheid. The ANC had discussions with all 17 other parties that are represented in Parliament, including the smallest ones with just one seat. They were all invited to join the unity government, he said. Some have refused.
Read Also:
Two other major parties, the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters and the new MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma — once the leader of the ANC — have said they will not be part of the government of national unity.
