Tag: Ramaphosa

South Africa’s  yesterday announced his new Cabinet, confirming the handover of 12 ministerial posts to opposition parties in a televised speech.

The largest opposition party, the economically liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), will take on six positions with DA party leader, John Steenhuisen, named to head the Ministry of Agriculture, Ramaphosa said.

With 20 ministries, including key ministries such as Foreign Affairs, Defence, Energy and Finance, the African National Congress (ANC) retained the lion’s share of Cabinet posts.

With a total of 32 ministerial posts, the Cabinet has two seats larger than in previous years.

The new government consisted of 11 parties, expected to lead the African continent’s strongest economy in a government of national unity.

Ramaphosa’s ANC lost its absolute majority for the first time in 30 years in the parliamentary elections on May 29 and can no longer govern alone.

The new government plans to prioritise economic growth, social justice and democratic renewal of the country.

Read Also: Tinubu, Ramaphosa to tackle shared challenges, foster closer ties

Combating poverty, unemployment, and crime is also a priority, along with addressing corruption and state exploitation.

The governing alliance has been formed without any firm coalition agreements.

Political analysts have questioned the stability and effectiveness of such a form of government.

South Africa is becoming increasingly important internationally due to its position in a continent rich in the raw material reserves needed for the green energy transition.

Leader of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), Cyril Ramaphosa, yesterday took oath as the nation’s president for the next five years at Pretoria, the administrative capital.
Ramaphosa, 71, was re-elected as South African president by the National Assembly on June 14 with 283 votes against the other nominee, Julius Malema from the Economic Freedom Fighters, who received 44 votes.
South Africa has begun a “new era Ramaphosa announced as he was sworn in for a second full term in office.
Ramaphosa hailed this government during his inauguration speech, but also warned that unless it addressed deep inequalities, the country could become unstable.
“Through the ballots that they have cast, the people of South Africa have made plain their expectation that the leaders of our country should work together,” President Ramaphosa, 71, said solemnly.
“They have directed their representatives to put aside animosity and dissent, to abandon narrow interests, and to pursue together only that which benefits the nation.”
South African dignitaries and African heads of states were invited to the inauguration.
They included the leaders of Nigeria, Angola, Zimbabwe, Congo-Brazzaville, and Eswatini, and gathered in the Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre outside the Union Building in Pretoria.
A huge crowd of supporters formed outside the official seat of government, waving national flags.
Under a sharp blue winter sky, the Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, administered the oath of office.
“I swear I will be faithful to the Republic of South Africa… I will obey, observe and uphold the constitution and all other laws of the republic,” the president said.
A band then played the national anthem. The rendition was followed by a 21-gun salute and a fly-past by army helicopters.

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The ANC, which has governed since the end of the racist system of apartheid in 1994, lost its majority for the first time after the 29 May election produced no outright winner.
The party got 40% of the vote, a drop of 17 percentage points, and it lost 70 seats in parliament.
Under the South African Constitution, once elected as president by the National Assembly, the president-elect must assume office within five days.
In the general elections on May 29, the ANC secured 159 out of the 400 seats in the National Assembly.
This is the first time the ANC is falling below the 50 per cent needed to maintain its 30-year-old outright majority in the lower house of parliament.
A weakened Ramaphosa pledged that his new multi-party government would work to improve basic living conditions for all citizens as he was sworn.
Ramaphosa’s ANC will share power with five other parties after it was humbled in a May 29 election, losing its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years of democracy.
The voters “have been unequivocal in expressing their disappointment and disapproval of our performance in some areas where we have failed them,” Ramaphosa said at his inauguration ceremony in the capital Pretoria.
He said the voters wanted everyone to have enough food, decent homes, clean water, affordable and uninterrupted electricity supply, well-maintained roads, good care for the sick and elderly, quality schools, and other basic services.
“Today, I stand before you as your humble servant to say we have heard you,” he said.
“In this moment we must choose to move forward, to close the distances between South Africans and to build a more equal society.”
The ANC remains the largest party after the election, followed by the pro-business Democratic Alliance, a critic of the ANC’s record in office, which has agreed to join the new government.
While investors have welcomed the inclusion of the DA, which wants to boost growth through structural reforms and prudent fiscal policies, analysts say sharp ideological divisions between the parties could destabilise the government.
Just before the election, Ramaphosa signed into law a National Health Insurance bill that the DA says could collapse a creaking health system. It was unclear what would happen to that law under the new government.
The DA advocates scrapping the ANC’s flagship Black economic empowerment programme, saying it hasn’t worked — a highly contentious topic in a nation grappling with huge inequalities, some inherited from apartheid.
Ramaphosa has yet to announce his new government, to be negotiated with members of the new alliance.
A former liberation movement, the ANC came to power under Nelson Mandela’s leadership in the 1994 elections which marked the end of apartheid and had long been unbeatable.
However, it lost its shine after presiding over years of decline.
Weary of high levels of poverty and unemployment, rampant crime, rolling power cuts, and corruption in party ranks, voters punished the ANC, which lost millions of votes on May 29 compared with the previous election in 2019.
“Our society remains deeply unequal and highly polarised,” Ramaphosa said.
“We are divided between those who have jobs and those who do not work, between those who have the means to build and enjoy a comfortable life and those who do not.”
African heads of state and dignitaries from as far afield as Cuba, a historical friend of the ANC, gathered outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the seat of the South African government, to bear witness to Ramaphosa’s inauguration.
A ceremony full of military pomp and pageantry began with inter-faith prayers by Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, and traditional African religious leaders, reflecting the country’s diversity.
Military helicopters flew past in blazing sunshine, trailing South African flags, to cheers from the audience.
The former trade unionist and business tycoon first became president in 2018 when his predecessor, Zuma, was forced to resign because of corruption allegations. Zuma has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.