The ANC leader must now name a cabinet with his weakened party and coalition partners in a unity government.
Cyril Ramaphosa has been sworn in for a second term as president of South Africa, hailing his broad coalition government as the “beginning of a new era”.
Ramaphosa, whose inauguration took place on Wednesday in Pretoria, now faces the challenge of appointing a cabinet made up of his weakened African National Congress (ANC) party and coalition partners.
Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to re-elect the 71-year-old last week after May elections produced no outright winner, forcing the ANC to reach deals with five other parties, including the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA), to form a government of national unity.
“The formation of a government of national unity is a moment of profound significance. It is the beginning of a new era,” Ramaphosa said at his inauguration ceremony, led by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
The ANC, which came to power under the leadership of Nelson Mandela in 1994 after fighting a decades-long battle against apartheid, lost its majority for the first time in 30 years of democracy, winning just 40 percent of the vote.
Its alliance with the DA, the largest opposition party with 22 percent of the vote, has been described by some as a new chapter in the country’s history.
While investors welcomed the inclusion of the AD, which focuses on structural reforms and prudent fiscal policies, analysts predict that sharp ideological divisions between the two could create instability.
Just before the elections, Ramaphosa signed into law a National Health Insurance bill that prosecutors said could collapse a crumbling healthcare system. It was unclear what would happen to this law under the new government.
The AD defends the abandonment of the ANC’s flagship black economic empowerment program, saying it has not worked – a highly controversial topic in a nation struggling with huge inequalities, some inherited from apartheid.
Ramaphosa will now negotiate the composition of his new government with members of the new alliance, which also includes the nationalist Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party, the anti-immigration Patriotic Alliance and the small center-left GOOD party.
“The president does not want the country to go through a prolonged period of uncertainty,” and consultations will continue on Wednesday night, his spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, told state broadcaster SABC.
Several heads of state, including Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, João Lourenço of Angola, Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo and the leader of Eswatini, King Mswati III, attended the inauguration.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
