South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to be sworn in on Wednesday for a second term that will be unlike any government the country has experienced since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) will have to work with rivals to govern for the first time as the Failed to win an absolute majority In last month’s election, she received just 40% of the vote.
Mr Ramaphosa touted A new era of unity But not everyone agrees.
The alliance includes the second largest party, the Democratic Alliance, which received 22% of the vote and has long been the ANC’s most fierce critic. The other three parties that joined the alliance received less than 4% of the vote each: Inkatha, the Patriotic Alliance and GOOD.
The five main ruling coalition parties signed a statement of basic principles that includes what the parties call the policy priorities of a “national unity government.” But the document does not elaborate.
How will they revive the flagging economy? Will they continue to push for affirmative action, which the ANC strongly supports but the DA strongly opposes? And how will they deal with the contentious issue of racial inequality in land ownership?
Here are four major challenges that South Africa’s new government will face.
A rough start can threaten the future.
Signs of tension have already emerged that could cause trouble in future relations between the two countries.
Ryan Coetzee, a former Democratic Alliance strategist who was involved in the coalition talks Wrote in the column According to South African news website News24, the ANC still appears to be rejecting the idea of sharing power with the DA in the final stages of reaching an agreement.
“Its aim is undoubtedly to weaken the Democratic Alliance,” Coetzee wrote of the ANC, “which is a mistake, for it will turn the government into a permanent battleground, thereby threatening its existence from the outset.”
Ramaphosa must form a cabinet quickly and consider ministerial positions from other parties. From there, the hard work of putting personal and ideological grievances aside begins.
“I don’t think it’s going to be an easy marriage,” said Thelela Ngcetane-Vika, a lecturer in international law and public policy at the School of Governance at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
The economic situation is so bad that it is difficult to find solutions.
The core reasons for South Africans’ dissatisfaction with the government are the sluggish economy, high unemployment, increasing inequality and poverty.
Trudi Makhaya, a former economic adviser to Ramaphosa, said the coalition government’s economic policies were likely to be similar to those of the previous African National Congress (ANC)-led government, which had mostly centrist policies. “I think the narrative and the rhetoric will change, but the substance will not,” she said.
Mr Ramaphosa, for example, has embraced greater involvement of the private sector in creating jobs and driving the economy, but the new government’s messaging is likely to place more emphasis on that given the DA’s free-market stance, Ms Makaya said.
The DA called for the continuation of Operation Vulindlela, a plan launched by Ramaphosa to strengthen critical infrastructure, some of it through privatization. Makaya said the DA could also urge the government to speed up regulatory cuts to attract more investment into the country.
Partners have very different views on race.
How to resolve the lingering issue of racial differences will become the biggest topic of friction between the ANC and the Democratic Alliance.
Many ANC members are adamantly opposed to forming a coalition government, arguing that the DA denies the existence of racism and wants to maintain the status quo of white economic dominance – claims DA officials deny.
“We believe that transformation means increasing efficiency, improving infrastructure and making the country work,” said Helen Zille, the president of the Democratic Alliance’s federal council, explaining her party’s approach to uplifting historically disadvantaged ethnic groups.
During the campaign, the DA proposed repealing the Black Economic Empowerment Act, one of the ANC’s signature measures that was designed to incentivize black ownership and leadership in companies. Because the law is so important to the ANC and its base, Ms. Makaya said she could foresee the DA pushing for reforms that would likely keep the act but make it more palatable to supporters.
One of the most controversial representations of racial inequality is that most of the country’s land is still owned by white people. Left-wing politicians, including many in the African National Congress, have called on the government to take land from white owners without compensation, a position that runs counter to the Democratic Alliance’s economic philosophy.
The ANC has a largely neutral approach to land policy, so it is unlikely to propose any radical policies. But Makaya said the ANC could make some progress on land reform by better implementing existing measures, such as handing over unused state land to private individuals.
The alliance’s factions pursue different foreign policies.
The ANC actively pursues a foreign policy that opposes certain Western interests, most notably Accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza In international courts Refuse to condemn Russia invades Ukraine.
The Democratic Alliance tends to support South Africa’s Western allies, such as the United States and the European Union, the two countries with which South Africa has its closest trading relations.
When it comes to foreign policy, “you see a lot of debate and not a lot of consensus,” said Lebogang Legodi, a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at the University of Limpopo in South Africa.
Nonetheless, Ramaphosa maintains good relations with both Western powers and allies such as China and Russia. The main tension with the Democratic Alliance is likely to arise in debates over South Africa’s role in global institutions such as the BRICS (a multinational grouping that competes with the West) and, more recently, the Welcome to Iran As one of its new members.
