The African National Congress (ANC) held high-stakes internal talks on Tuesday about which parties it should approach to form South Africa’s next government. It will have to decide between Marxist and free-market-friendly parties.
ANC can no longer govern alone
The party lost its overall majority since Nelson Mandela led it to power in the 1994 elections. It remains the largest party but can no longer govern alone.
The ANC has 159 seats out of 400 in the new National Assembly, while the free-marketeer Democratic Alliance (DA) has 87. The populist uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) will have 58 seats, the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) 39, the socially conservative Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) 17 and the far-right Patriotic Alliance (PA) nine.
Charles Cilliers, co-founder and head of strategy for the PA said the ANC is still trying to make up its mind on what to do.
“Everyone is reliant on the ANC coming to a decision. There’s a lot of pressure on them from big money, from big business in South Africa, to work with the DA.”
ANC has to decide between Marxist and free-market right wing parties
The DA presents itself as a champion of business and free-market economics. It favours scrapping some of the ANC’s flagship Black empowerment measures which it says have not worked. Often accused of representing the interests of the white minority, the DA says good governance benefits all South Africans.
New Parliament must be in place by June 16
The new parliament must convene by June 16 and one of its first acts will be to choose the nation’s president. Incumbent Cyril Ramaphosa is likely to fill that post. However, he may come under pressure to quit or prepare for a succession given his party’s poor showing.
A working committee of 27 ANC officials was due to meet on Tuesday. They are drawing up a menu of options to present to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) on Wednesday.
With inputs from Reuters
