The main opposition party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has secured six ministerial portfolios out of the 32 that make up the Government of National Unity (GNU) announced on Sunday evening by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The departments now managed by the DA are Home Affairs, Agriculture, Education, Public Works, Communications, and Environment, while other opposition parties each obtained one ministerial portfolio.
In a televised speech, Mr. Ramaphosa stated that eleven political parties have decided to work together, both at the government level and within the National Assembly, to accelerate economic growth. These parties include the African National Congress, the Democratic Alliance, the Patriotic Alliance, the Inkatha Freedom Party, the Good Party, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, the Freedom Front Plus, the United Democratic Movement, Al Jama-ah, Rise Mzansi, and United Africans Transformation.
The head of state specified that the partnership between the members of this coalition will be guided by a declaration of intent, establishing the fundamental principles and priorities of the government program.
Furthermore, the president emphasized that given the numerous challenges the country faces, this government must work hard to provide concrete solutions and achieve the desired results.
Mr. Ramaphosa also noted that reducing the size of the country’s seventh administration was not possible due to the large number of political formations contributing to it.
The formation of this new government was hanging by a thread due to disagreements between the African National Congress (ANC), which has been in power for 30 years, and the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), over the distribution of ministerial portfolios.
Out of a total of 400 seats in the National Assembly, the ANC secured 159, followed by the Democratic Alliance (87 seats), the newly formed Jacob Zuma’s party "uMkhonto weSizwe" (MK) with 58 seats, and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 39 seats.
The voter turnout was 58.63%, down from the 66% recorded in the previous election held in 2019.
