(Cape Town) The ANC, the largest South African party, deprived of an absolute majority by the last elections at the end of May, announced Thursday that it had reached an agreement with several parties with a view to the formation of a coalition government, the day before the first session of the new Parliament.
“We have reached a common understanding on the need to work together,” ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told a news conference.
The coalition must “gravitate around the center”, after a rejection of the agreement by the left opposition, he declared, and give birth to a government of national unity.
The agreement should allow the reappointment of President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term during Friday’s parliamentary session in Cape Town.
According to Mr Mbalula, the coalition includes the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA), the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Party (IFP), the small centre-left United Democratic Movement and the white identity party FF Plus.
The radical left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) were excluded from the deal due to a lack of agreement during discussions with their leader Julius Malema, Mr Mbalula said.
Former President Jacob Zuma’s party, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), which came third in the elections, is also not involved. According to Mr. Mbalula, discussions will continue with this training.
But the MK, which announced its intention to file a legal appeal, contests the validity of the results of the legislative elections and denounces irregularities. Its 58 MPs plan to boycott the inaugural session of Parliament.
Since the advent of post-apartheid democracy 30 years ago, the African National Congress, ANC, Nelson Mandela’s historic party, held an absolute majority and elected a president from its ranks.
But the former liberation movement, weakened by corruption and poor economic performance, saw its support collapse in May 29 elections, which gave it just 40 percent of the vote, or 159 seats out of 400.
In South Africa, the president is chosen from among MPs in a secret ballot by the National Assembly. He must then choose the ministers who will form the executive in Pretoria.
The ANC invited “everyone to participate” in government, Mr Mbalula stressed.
But bridging the gap between the white-led, pro-free-market DA, which has 87 MPs, and the EFF, which has 39 seats and is campaigning to nationalise land and businesses, has proven a challenge.
At a press conference on Thursday, Mr Malema, a former ANC youth leader, said his party was not opposed to a broad coalition and would have voted for the ANC candidate for the presidency if the presidency or vice-presidency of the Assembly had been granted to him.
But he denounced the alliance with the DA and the FF Plus. “It represents imperialism, racism and white supremacy, backwardness,” he lambasted.
A former trade unionist turned millionaire businessman, Mr Ramaphosa, 71, rose to power in 2018 after Mr Zuma was ousted from power amid corruption charges.
Once described by Nelson Mandela as one of the most gifted leaders of his generation, he played a key role in the negotiations that ended apartheid in the early 1990s.
Promising a new era for South Africa, it has, according to its detractors, disappointed expectations, notably with record unemployment.
The shift to the center negotiated as part of the coalition agreement could further harm his popularity, particularly in the ranks of the ANC, with its progressive left DNA.
During the negotiations, the prospect of an alliance with the DA fueled divisions and discontent among party officials. According to observers, ANC MPs could vote against Mr Ramaphosa on Friday, covered by the secrecy of the vote.
