CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa’s main political rivals have banded together in a last-minute coalition deal, ensuring President Cyril Ramaphosa can form a government and are now partners in the government. He was dramatically re-elected With bipartisan support, A country in distress It gave me a boost.
The agreement was reached on the sidelines of a marathon parliamentary session on Friday. Ramaphosa Hours later, he was re-elected to a second term with the support of opposition lawmakers who had once been his most vocal critics.
President Ramaphosa African National Congress The Democratic Alliance is South Africa’s only major political party. White leaders and This means that Africa’s most industrialized country can now form a government. After the political impasse It threatened economic stability.
More than that, it revitalized the country. Carrying a heavy burden Poverty, unemployment, corruption, crime and failing public services, South Africans have found a ray of hope in a coalition of two parties with very different ideologies who have declared they will work together for the good of the people.
It could bring new unity to a country grappling with a brutal history. The apartheid system of racial segregation It ended in 1994.
Here’s how this unlikely agreement came about and what it means for South Africa, a leading developing country.
Political impasse
An unprecedented impasse ensued in the wake of the ANC. They lost the majority in parliament that they had held for 30 years. The May 29 election revealed the discontent of millions of poor black South Africans who continue to seek a better life decades after the end of white-minority rule. Many have defected from the ANC, the party that liberated the country from apartheid and has been in power ever since, winning just 40 percent of the vote.
It remained the largest party, The once-dominant ANC After failing for the first time to form a government on its own or get President Ramaphosa re-elected in parliament, it began two weeks of frantic talks with the DA, the second-largest party and a surprise choice for a coalition partner, to try to find common ground. The deadline is approaching.
South Africa’s constitution stipulates that a new parliament must convene and choose a president within 14 days of the results being announced, leaving the ANC and DA in a race against time to broker their most significant political deal in three decades.
Breakthrough
ANC on Thursday night An agreement was reached An agreement was reached in principle but talks continued over the details. Talks broke down around 2 a.m. on Friday, officials said, and the new parliament convened and was sworn in later that day without reaching an agreement.
The proceedings were broadcast live, sending the nation into a state of shock, with no idea whether a president would be elected or not.The leader of the DA’s negotiating team said the two sides had “found each other”, but with time running out, they still must wait patiently for the official documents to be signed.
It happened during a parliamentary recess, DA leader John Steenhausen In a national address, the party announced it had ended its longstanding opposition to the ANC and elected Ramaphosa as president. After 14 hours of parliamentary debate, Ramaphosa was re-elected with the backing of Democratic Alliance (DA) MPs.
The 71-year-old President, deeply involved in the anti-apartheid struggle, and the 48-year-old Mr Steenhuisen, who was a teenager when apartheid ended, smiled and shook hands in what Ramaphosa called a “new era of hope” for South Africa.
Opposition to the coalition government
This agreement includes at least Two other smaller parties President Ramaphosa has called on all political parties represented in Parliament to join a broader coalition government under the banner of a Government of National Unity.
Some parties have refused, including former President Jacob Zuma’s new party MK and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters, the third and fourth largest parties respectively, and likely to remain in opposition.
from now on
While the ANC and DA have been praised for their efforts to find broad common ground, no one doubts that it will be complicated for them to govern side by side in the long term.
They disagree on many issues, including nationalization and privatization. Major sectors of the economyOn issues such as health funding, workers’ rights and foreign policy, the DA has criticised the ANC’s blatant pro-Russian policies. and a pro-Palestinian stance.
Analysts say that given South Africa’s pressing problems, the two countries need to quickly find effective ways to cooperate. The world’s highest unemployment rateInequality and violent crime. These are Advance yourself as a leader For the African continent and the broader developing world.
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