President Ramaphosa Names New Cabinet After Coalition Agreement

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has announced a new Cabinet on Sunday night after forming a coalition government with the former main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), and nine other parties.

The African National Congress (ANC), Ramaphosa’s party, retained the most ministerial positions, appointing ANC officials to 20 of the 32 Cabinet roles.

The DA, once the biggest opposition party in South Africa, received six ministerial positions. The remaining posts were distributed among smaller parties.

This coalition comes after the ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in three decades, securing only 40% of the vote in the May 29 election. The DA won 21% of the vote.

Ramaphosa’s announcement followed weeks of negotiations, with the DA nearly walking away from the agreement until a Friday meeting between Ramaphosa and DA leader, John Steenhuisen.

“We have shown that there are no problems that are too difficult or too intractable that they cannot be solved through dialogue,” Ramaphosa said, acknowledging the difficulty in the negotiations.

Key appointments include Paul Mashatile (ANC) as the deputy president and Parks Tau (ANC) as minister of trade and industry, a position the DA had been clamouring for. The DA leader, Steenhuisen, was appointed the minister of agriculture.

Leaders of four other parties were also included in the cabinet.

This is the first time in South Africa’s history that such a broad range of parties, from across the political spectrum, will constitute a government. In mandating us to form a government that serves all, the South African people have a rightful expectation that the seventh… pic.twitter.com/ZlyLtC1iIq

— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) July 1, 2024

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Emmanuel Ejiofor

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