South Africa's unprecedented new coalition has 7 parties in the Cabinet. Here's a breakdown
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has included seven different parties in his Cabinet in an unprecedented power-sharing agreement for the continent’s most industrialized country
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has included seven different parties in his Cabinet in an unprecedented power-sharing agreement in the continent's most industrialized country after the African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority in a milestone election result in late May.
Ramaphosa's announcement of the new Cabinet on Sunday night takes South Africa into uncharted political territory after 30 years of dominance by the ANC, which liberated the country from the white minority rule of apartheid in 1994 and had governed ever since.
The new multiparty Cabinet was the culmination of a month of tense and sometimes acrimonious negotiations between Ramaphosa's ANC and the Democratic Alliance, the white-led former main opposition party that has now agreed to share power with the ANC.
While the coalition is made up of 11 parties, including seven with Cabinet positions, the agreement largely rests on the ANC and the DA — the two biggest parties — putting aside their ideological differences and more than 20 years of being political foes to work together.
