South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) will seek to form a government of national unity by inviting other political parties to join them, announced ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday following a meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee.
The ANC, which has governed since the end of apartheid 30 years ago, lost its parliamentary majority in last week’s election, unable to govern alone for the first time since 1994. Voters punished the ANC for persistent poverty, joblessness, rampant crime, rolling power blackouts, and corruption. Despite remaining the largest party, the ANC’s diminished position requires coalition partners to govern effectively.
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri revealed that discussions are underway with five parties, including the free-market-oriented Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). “At this point, the conversation is about forming a government of national unity because this is what the people of South Africa have expressed,” she said during a press conference in Johannesburg, noting that the party’s National Executive Committee would finalize the options.
In the new National Assembly, the ANC will hold 159 out of 400 seats, while the DA will have 87 seats. The populist uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), led by former president Jacob Zuma, secured 58 seats. The EFF will have 39 seats, the socially conservative Inkatha Freedom Party 17, and the far-right Patriotic Alliance (PA) nine seats.
