South Africa's Ramaphosa re-elected as ANC strikes coalition deal | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
June 15, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2025
South Africa's Ramaphosa re-elected as ANC strikes coalition deal

Africa

Reuters
15 June, 2024, 10:10 am
Last modified: 15 June, 2024, 10:16 am

Related News

  • Rescuers in South Africa search for the missing after floods leave at least 49 dead
  • South Africa town leader 'sad' about Trump's misuse of white crosses video
  • Trump confronts South Africa's Ramaphosa with false claims of white genocide
  • First white South Africans arrive in US as Trump claims they face discrimination
  • First white South Africans board plane for US under Trump refugee plan

South Africa's Ramaphosa re-elected as ANC strikes coalition deal

Once unthinkable, the accord allowed President Cyril Ramaphosa to win a second term in office. He was re-elected by lawmakers with 283 votes

Reuters
15 June, 2024, 10:10 am
Last modified: 15 June, 2024, 10:16 am
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Pemmy Majodina of the African National Congress (ANC) attend a swearing-in ceremony into the National Assembly during the first sitting of the National Assembly following elections, at the Cape Town International Convention Center (CTICC) in Cape Town, South Africa June 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Nic Bothma
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Pemmy Majodina of the African National Congress (ANC) attend a swearing-in ceremony into the National Assembly during the first sitting of the National Assembly following elections, at the Cape Town International Convention Center (CTICC) in Cape Town, South Africa June 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Nic Bothma

The African National Congress and its largest rival, the white-led, pro-business Democratic Alliance, agreed on Friday to work together in South Africa's new government of national unity, a step change after 30 years of ANC rule.

Once unthinkable, the accord allowed President Cyril Ramaphosa to win a second term in office. He was re-elected by lawmakers with 283 votes.

The deal between two sharply antagonistic parties is the most momentous political shift in South Africa since Nelson Mandela led the ANC to victory in the 1994 election that marked the end of apartheid.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

"It will once again be a privilege and pleasure to serve this great nation ... (as) president," the 71-year-old leader said in a speech to parliament, describing the coming government as an era of hope and inclusivity.

"That a number of parties that had opposed each other... have decided to work together to deliver this result has given a new birth, a new era to our country," he said.

The ANC lost its majority for the first time in an election on May 29 and spent two weeks in talks with other parties that went down to the wire on Friday morning as the new parliament was convening in Cape Town.

"Today is a historic day for our country," DA leader John Steenhuisen said. 

"And I think it is the start of a new chapter ... of us putting our country, ... its interests and its future first."

The National Assembly had earlier elected a DA lawmaker as deputy speaker, after choosing an ANC politician as speaker - the first concrete instance of power sharing between the two parties. 

Long seen as unbeatable in national elections, the ANC lost support in recent years as voters wearied of persistently high levels of poverty, inequality and crime, rolling power cuts and corruption in party ranks.

WATERSHED MOMENT 

The DA's entry into national government is a watershed moment for a country still processing the legacy of the racist colonial and apartheid regimes. 

The party wants to scrap some of the ANC's Black empowerment programmes, saying they have not worked and have mostly benefited a politically-connected elite. It says good governance and a strong economy would benefit all South Africans.

For that reason, some ANC politicians have expressed hostility to the presence of the DA in the government. The hard-left Economic Freedom Fighters, which captured nearly 10% of the vote, meanwhile accused it of representing the interests of the privileged white minority - a charge the DA strongly disputes.

"We do not agree to this marriage of convenience to consolidate the white monopoly power over the economy and the means of production," EFF leader Julius Malema said in a speech in parliament after Ramaphosa's election. 

"We refuse to sell out."     

Others took a less dismal view of the new racial dynamics.

"The ANC was also failing. They need a partner so they can rise again. DA is mostly white people so if they came together we can have more power and maybe a lot can change, even jobs could be created," Bongani Msibi, 38, a street vendor in Soweto, told Reuters TV earlier in the day.

Helen Zille, a senior DA figure for former leader of the party herself, said Steenhuisen's skin colour was irrelevant.

"The melanin-quotient of the DA leader is the least significant aspect of this historic agreement," she said in a post on X critical of some media headlines. 

INVESTORS WELCOME DEAL

Two smaller parties, the socially conservative Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the right-wing Patriotic Alliance, will also take part in the unity government.

The ANC won 159 of 400 seats in the National Assembly, while the DA got 87. The populist uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party led by former President Jacob Zuma has 58, the hard-left Economic Freedom Fighters 39 and the Inkatha Freedom Party 17.

The inclusion of the IFP, with its ethnic Zulu base, may help sweeten the DA pill for ANC voters. The Patriotic Alliance draws its support from the coloured (mixed-race) community.

A statement of intent of the government of national unity was circulated to party negotiators by the ANC's Mbalula. 

Among the "basic minimum programme of priorities" outlined in the document, seen by Reuters, were rapid, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, the promotion of fixed capital investment, job creation, land reform, infrastructure development, structural reforms and fiscal sustainability.

London-based research firm Capital Economics said investors favoured a coalition involving the ANC and DA because there was expected to be policy continuity or an acceleration of reforms - and because the EFF and MK - both of which want to nationalise banks and privately-owned land - are excluded from policymaking.

Zuma's MK came third in the election but alleged it was robbed of victory by vote-rigging, and is boycotting the new parliament. On Friday, an IFP official was elected as premier of the KwaZulu-Natal province, Zuma's stronghold, with the support of the DA, ANC and one other party, beating the MK candidate.

Shutting the MK out of the province's government, even though it had won the larger number of votes with 45%, could cause serious trouble in KwaZulu-Natal, where hundreds were killed in violence in 2021.  

Top News / Politics

Cyril Ramaphosa / south africa

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Fire of Israeli attack on Sharan Oil depot is seen following the Israeli strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
    Israel and Iran strike at each other as Trump says conflict can be easily ended
  • The moment before Abu Sayeed was shot during a clash between police and protesters in front of Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur on Tuesday, 16 July 2024. Screengrab from video
    ICT extends deadline for Abu Sayed murder probe by one month
  • AMM Nasir Uddin. File photo: Collected.
    EC moving forward with polls preparations, committed to ensuring level playing field: CEC

MOST VIEWED

  • Tour operator Borsha Islam. Photo: Collected
    ‘Tour Expert’ admin Borsha Islam arrested over Bandarban tourist deaths
  • Fighter jet. Photo: AFP
    3 F-35 fighter jets downed, two Israeli pilots in custody, claims Iranian media
  • Infographic: TBS
    Chattogram Port proposes 70%-100% tariff hike
  • Vehicles were seen stuck on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway due to a traffic jam stretching 15 kilometres on 14 June 2025. Photo: TBS
    15km traffic jam on Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway as post-Eid rush continues
  • Ahsan H Mansur. TBS sketch
    BB governor meets global litigation funders to mobilise $100m for tracing stolen assets
  • Burnt out cars and damaged buildings are all that’s left of this street in Ramat Gan Credit: AP
    Iran threatens to strike US, UK, and French bases if they help defend Israel

Related News

  • Rescuers in South Africa search for the missing after floods leave at least 49 dead
  • South Africa town leader 'sad' about Trump's misuse of white crosses video
  • Trump confronts South Africa's Ramaphosa with false claims of white genocide
  • First white South Africans arrive in US as Trump claims they face discrimination
  • First white South Africans board plane for US under Trump refugee plan

Features

Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

1d | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

3d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

4d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

6d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Iran-Israel conflict heats up at G7 summit

Iran-Israel conflict heats up at G7 summit

14m | TBS World
Is Regime Change in Iran Israel's Goal?

Is Regime Change in Iran Israel's Goal?

54m | TBS World
Ishraque seeks chief adviser's intervention for oath as Dhaka South mayor

Ishraque seeks chief adviser's intervention for oath as Dhaka South mayor

2h | TBS Today
Israel asked US to join military campaign against Iran, but US rejects request

Israel asked US to join military campaign against Iran, but US rejects request

2h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net