Opposition party agrees to join South African unity government

The leader of South Africa’s Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) says his party has agreed to be part of a national unity government that includes the African National Congress (ANC) and the largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA ).

Velenkosini Hlabisa told journalists at a press conference in Durban on Wednesday: “The only options were to become part of the government, or part of the opposition.”

“The people of South Africa who voted said political parties must find common ground,” Hlabisa said.

South Africans have been anxiously waiting to find out who would form the next government after the ANC lost its majority in last month’s elections.

This is the first official indication that a national unity government has been agreed, although the DA and ANC have not yet commented.

The ANC previously said it wanted to form a unity government and had engaged with all of the country’s opposition parties.

The new parliament is expected to take office on Friday, when a president is expected to be elected, so the ANC hopes to have reached an agreement by then. He insists that Cyril Ramaphosa must continue to be the country’s leader.

The ANC’s vote fell below 50% for the first time since Nelson Mandela led them to victory in 1994 and ended the racist system of apartheid, forcing them to look for coalition partners.

The ANC won around 40% of the vote, with the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) on 22%, former president Jacob Zuma’s MK party on 15% and the radical Economic Freedom Fighters on 9%.

The IFP, which is a conservative party with a strong Zulu base, won around 4% of the vote in the elections.

Many ANC activists would prefer to make a deal with the EFF and MK, both led by former senior ANC officials.

However, such a coalition would alarm investors because these parties are in favor of seizing land belonging to whites without compensation and nationalizing the country’s mines.

The business community would prefer a coalition between the ANC and the DA.

The participation of other parties, such as the IFP, would help deflect criticism that the ANC leadership was “selling out” by working with the DA, seen by some South Africans as representing the country’s white minority.

The DA opposes two of the ANC’s main policies – its black empowerment program, which aims to give black people a stake in the economy after their exclusion under apartheid, and the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act, that promises universal health care for all.

“We will participate in the national unity government for the good of our country and for the good of our people, who want life to continue with a stable government that will face their challenges,” Hlabisa said.

Hlabisa assured IFP supporters that the party would not “lose its identity” as they had worked in a coalition government before.

After the historic 1994 elections, Mandela’s ANC worked with its former enemies in the National Party, which was responsible for implementing apartheid, as well as the IFP, whose supporters frequently clashed with ANC activists, causing thousands of deaths. .

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