A woman walks past a logo of The African National Congress, at Luthuli House, the ANC headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 5.Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
South African negotiators have made a “major breakthrough” that will keep the long-ruling African National Congress in power, despite its tumble into minority status in last month’s election, the ANC says.
The deal will allow President Cyril Ramaphosa to win re-election in a parliamentary vote on Friday, setting the stage for a new ANC government with formal or informal support from several opposition parties.
The pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA), which finished second in the election, is the biggest opposition party that will join the political arrangement. Several smaller parties will also join.
In the election in late May, the ANC lost its national majority for the first time in three decades. The former anti-apartheid movement first took power under Nelson Mandela in 1994 after the end of white minority rule and had dominated every election until now.
“We are in no position to govern this country alone,” ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told a news conference on Thursday night. “Strutting like peacocks in arrogance will not work in this instance.”
He said the political negotiators have “reached a breakthrough on the common agreement that we need to work together” in a deal that will “gravitate towards the centre.” Key details are still being negotiated, including possible cabinet posts or parliamentary leadership roles for several opposition parties.
The emerging deal will exclude the third-biggest party, MK, a populist party headed by former president and ANC leader Jacob Zuma that wants to abolish the constitution, nationalize key industrial sectors and transfer power to tribal kings and queens.
Mr. Zuma’s party has claimed, without evidence, that the election was rigged against it. The party has also threatened to boycott the opening of Parliament on Friday, although it lacks the power to prevent Mr. Ramaphosa’s re-election and failed in its bid for a court injunction to block the vote.
The agreement among the party negotiators is also expected to rule out any cabinet posts for the fourth-biggest party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, a radical left-wing party. The EFF is still hoping to persuade the ANC to let it have several key parliamentary posts.
The ANC won 40 per cent of the vote in last month’s election, down sharply from 57 per cent in the 2019 results. The DA won 22 per cent, while MK gained 15 per cent and the EFF had just under 10 per cent.
The EFF Leader, Julius Malema, confirmed on Thursday night that the ANC is “finalizing an agreement” with the DA and other parties.
“The EFF will not participate in a government that includes right-wing and reactionary political parties,” he said, referring to the DA and smaller conservative parties.
Mr. Malema is aiming to carve out a role as the main opposition leader in South Africa, especially if Mr. Zuma boycotts Parliament. He says the EFF will take an “oversight” role.
“We remain an opposition,” he said. “The DA is our enemy.”
While there is clearly enough agreement among the political parties to ensure Mr. Ramaphosa’s re-election as president, the emerging new government could still be rickety and prone to internal feuding.
Some prominent ANC politicians are bitterly opposed to the DA, a liberal party that has white leaders and is widely perceived as white-dominated. There are huge differences between the ANC and the DA on many issues, especially on economic policy. The DA, for example, wants to phase out the minimum wage, while the ANC is strongly pro-labour.
The ANC’s internal establishment, however, believes a deal with the DA and other parties would be a “government of national unity” that could preserve the basic principles of South Africa’s progressive constitution.
Mr. Mbalula quoted the former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who famously praised the power of pragmatism by using an analogy about cats catching mice: “To us, it doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white,” he said.
Markets have been positive about the prospect of a new government with DA participation. South Africa’s currency, the rand, has strengthened over the past week, as the ANC seemed increasingly willing to do a deal with the opposition party.
South Africa’s fifth-biggest party, the conservative Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), which won 4 per cent of the vote, has confirmed it will join the ANC in the new government.
Another small party, the Patriotic Alliance, with about 2 per cent of the vote, is also expected to join the government. It has a populist, anti-immigrant platform, sparking criticism from the DA and others.
There are still questions about the political future of South Africa’s two most populous provinces: Gauteng, the industrial heartland where Johannesburg and Pretoria are located; and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), on the Indian Ocean coast.
The ANC will try to retain power in Gauteng by cobbling together an agreement with other parties. But in KZN, it won only 17 per cent of the vote, far behind Mr. Zuma’s party, which gathered 45 per cent.
It will seek to freeze out MK from KZN’s provincial government by forming an alliance with the IFK, the DA and the small National Freedom Party, potentially forming a narrow majority.