AceBreakingNews – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected by politicians for a second term on Friday, after his party struck a dramatic late coalition deal with a former political foe just hours before the vote.
Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Jun.17: 2024: AP News Agency: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/YouMeUs2
Mr Ramaphosa, the leader of the African National Congress (ANC), won convincingly in parliament against a surprise candidate, Julius Malema, of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters.
Mr Ramaphosa received 283 votes to Mr Malema’s 44 in the 400-member house.
The 71-year-old secured his second term with the help of politicians from the country’s second biggest party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), and some smaller parties.
They backed him in the vote and got him over the finish line following the ANC’s loss of its long-held majority in a landmark election two weeks ago that reduced it to 159 seats in parliament.
During a break in what turned out to be a marathon parliamentary session, the ANC signed the last-minute agreement with the DA, effectively ensuring Mr Ramaphosa stays on as the leader of Africa’s most industrialised economy.
The parties will now co-govern South Africa in its first national coalition where no party has a majority in parliament.
The deal, referred to as a government of national unity, brings the ANC together with the DA, a white-led party that had for years been the main opposition and the fiercest critic of the ANC.
At least two other smaller parties also joined the agreement.
Mr Ramaphosa called the deal a “new birth, a new era for our country” and said it was time for parties “to overcome their differences and to work together.”
“This is what we shall do and this is what I am committed to achieve as the president,” he said.
ANC loses its 30-year majority
The ANC is the famed party of Nelson Mandela, and had ruled South Africa with a comfortable majority since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994.
Since then, every South African leader has come from the ANC, starting with Mr Mandela.
But it lost its 30-year majority in the humbling national election on May 29.
The vote was held against the backdrop of widespread discontent from South Africans over high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
Analysts warn there might be complications ahead, though, given the starkly different ideologies of the ANC and the DA.
For one, the DA disagreed with the ANC government’s move to accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza in a susceptible case at the United Nations’ top court.
The DA leader John Steenhuisen was the first to confirm the agreement.
“From today, the DA will co-govern the Republic of South Africa in a spirit of unity and collaboration,” he said.
Former president Jacob Zuma’s MK Party boycotted the parliamentary session but that did not affect the voting as only a third of the house is needed for a quorum.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said the party was open to talking with anyone else who wanted to join the unity government.
There are 18 political parties represented in parliament and he said the multi-party agreement would “prioritise the country across the political and ideological divide.”
Some parties, including Malema’s EFF, refused to join.
The two other parties that joined the coalition deal were the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Patriotic Alliance, which has drawn attention partly because its leader, Gayton McKenzie, served a prison sentence for bank robbery.
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