South Africa keeps talking about cricket, but politics takes over July 18 – Firstpost

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday that parliament would open its next term on July 18 as he remained engaged in negotiations with other parties to form a government well before that date, amid divisions within the new governing coalition.

Talks to finalize the final details of a multi-party government and appoint a government have been going on for two weeks and have been marked by disagreements between Ramaphosa’s African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance, the second largest party, over the way of dividing. ministerial positions and portfolios.

Correspondence between the two former political enemies has been leaked, showing the tensions.

In one of the letters, Ramaphosa wrote to DA leader John Steenhuisen, accusing his party of “shifting the goalposts” by increasing its demands from six to eight ministerial posts, thereby jeopardizing the coalition deal. The DA says the ANC has reneged on its promise to allow it to take control of the important Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Ramaphosa and Steenhuisen have also held face-to-face meetings in recent days.

The problems reinforce analysts’ warnings that a coalition of the ANC and the DA to govern Africa’s most industrialized country would be complicated. The ANC had been the ruling party and the DA the main opposition and fiercest critic for more than 20 years before the May 29 election that created an unprecedented situation for South African politics. They have radically different ideologies.

The ANC lost its dominance and the parliamentary majority it had held since the end of the white minority apartheid system in 1994 in last month’s elections and was forced to share power for the first time. He won 40% of the vote and the DA 21%.

Although eight smaller parties have also joined the coalition, billed as a national unity government, the ANC and DA are the key players and their success depends on their ability to find common ground.

South African media have reported that the DA is close to pulling out of the power-sharing deal, but ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula – one of his party’s chief negotiators – tried to dispel that speculation, writing on social media site X on Friday that the parties were “nearly done” with the final deal. “It will be done as promised,” he added, and it would be “in the best interests of all South Africans.”

South Africa’s currency and investor confidence strengthened after the ANC and DA signed a preliminary agreement to work together in a coalition on June 14. The deal also ensured Ramaphosa was re-elected by lawmakers for a second term as president hours later with cross-party support.

Both parties had said the coalition would mark a new era of political unity that would help solve the country’s vast socio-economic problems, which have among the highest rates of inequality and unemployment in the world. But the delay in announcing a cabinet and establishing a new government has eroded some of the optimism.

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