Seven parties have won a place in South Africa’s new government

The ANC emerged victorious from the elections on 29 May, but lost its majority in the country’s National Assembly for the first time in 30 years.

Ramaphosa therefore had to court other parties, and after many and long rounds of negotiations with the largest opposition party, the center party Democratic Alliance (DA) and a number of small parties, the pieces finally fell into place.

The ANC has now secured the support of ten other parties in the National Assembly and has given cabinet posts to six of these.

Retains the most

The ANC, which received 40 percent of the vote in the election, retains 20 of the 32 cabinet posts, including finance, foreign affairs, trade and industry, defense and justice.

The Foreign Office means that South Africa continues its support for the Palestinians and the process against Israel in the UN’s highest court.

Ramaphosa’s party also gets an important hand on the wheel when South Africa next year takes over the presidency of the G20, the cooperation forum which consists of 19 countries as well as the EU.

Did not win

The DA has gained six ministers in the government, and the party’s leader John Steenhuisen takes over as Minister of Agriculture.

On the other hand, the party did not win with its desire to be allowed to manage the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, two areas where the ANC and DA disagree on policy.

The left-wing ANC and the centrist DA are far from agreeing on which economic policy should be pursued in Africa’s largest economy.

Complexion

The ANC is adamant that an active policy must be pursued to lift the country’s black majority out of poverty, while the DA wants an end to skin color playing a decisive role when politics is to be carved out.

DA is seen by many blacks as the party of the white minority, a minority that only makes up 7 percent of the country’s 62 million inhabitants.

The party emphasizes that they also have the support of many blacks, not least in the middle class, but skin color is still a sensitive topic in South African politics.

Protester

Ramaphosa has also made room for the leader of the Freedom Front Plus party in government, a party with roots on the white right in South Africa. It has been hard to swallow for the left in the president’s own party and has resulted in protests.

Former president Jacob Zumas and his newly formed party uMkhonto weSizwe, which received close to 15 percent of the vote in the election, refused to sit in government together with Freedom Front Plus.

So does the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party, which received just under 10 percent of the vote.