Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Johannesburg (Agenzia Fides) - Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected as President of South Africa, but it required the formation of an unprecedented coalition government made up of the historical opponents of apartheid and the party considered the expression of the "whites".
These are the consequences of the parliamentary elections held in South Africa on May 29 (see Fides, 31/5/2024), in which the African National Congress (ANC) lost its absolute majority for the first time since 1994, when the first truly free elections were held after the end of apartheid. The absolute majority had allowed Nelson Mandela's party to govern alone all this time. With 159 seats out of 400, the ANC is still the leading party in South Africa, but it had to seek allies to get its leader Ramaphosa re-elected as President and then form a coalition government described as "inclusive". In addition to the ANC, it will include the Democratic Alliance (DA), the largest opposition party to date, which represents the interests of South Africans of European descent and the financial and industrial circles, as well as the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), a nationalist Zulu party, and the Patriotic Alliance (PA), also conservative.
Thanks to this alliance, Ramaphosa was re-elected on 15 June by the newly established National Assembly with 283 votes. Unlike several other African countries, in South Africa the Head of State is not elected by the people but by the legislative assembly. Julius Malema, the founding leader of the "Economic Freedom Fighters", a left-wing party and former member of the ANC Youth League, also ran for president, receiving 44 votes. The 58 MPs of MK (uMkhonto weSizwe), the party of former President Jacob Zuma, who also left the ANC, did not take part in the vote to elect the President. Rather, they denounced alleged irregularities in the May 29 elections and called on the Independent Electoral Commission to annul them.
This has led to a strong political polarization between a "centrist" majority and a left-wing opposition that strongly opposes the current ANC leadership. It is no coincidence that the leaders of the two main opposition formations, Zuma and Malema, are former ANC members.
Ramaphosa, however, will have to deal with an opposition within his own party that does not like the alliance with the DA. In addition, the boycott of parliamentary work by Zuma's 58 MPs could lead to further tensions in the country. Despite his arrest in 2021 for contempt of justice, Zuma still enjoys a certain popularity in his KwaZulu-Natal constituency, as demonstrated by the riots that broke out in that province immediately after his detention was announced. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 17/6/2024)
