South Africa’s next government will be a coalition between the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party and at least one opposition party, which collapsed in Wednesday’s general election after failing to win a majority for the first time.
spare resultResults due to be confirmed by Sunday showed the ANC getting less than 42 percent of the vote. The main opposition, the centrist Democratic Alliance, won nearly 23 percent. The radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) dropped to fourth place with just under 10 percent of the vote, while former President Jacob Zuma’s new Zulu-led party, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the People, or MK), came in third with a solid 12 percent.
This means that a range of coalitions could emerge: the ANC could seek to bridge ethnic and political divides and ask MK to form a government, or it could align with the EFF and agree with its extreme and often racist policies.
Alternatively, the ANC and DA could set aside 25 years of political rivalry and form a “moderate” coalition that places ethnic, nationalist and communist parties in opposition.
The latter combination is the least likely, but may be the most effective in giving investors and the international community confidence that South Africa will enjoy some economic stability despite new domestic political instability.
At the provincial level, the DA secured a majority in the Western Cape, where Cape Town is located. The ANC fell short of majorities in Gauteng, where Johannesburg is located, Mpumalanga and even its home province, the Eastern Cape, and will need coalition governments in those provinces, most likely an ANC-DA coalition in Gauteng. MK fell short of a majority in KwaZulu, where the Zulus are predominant, and will need a coalition partner there as well.
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday The show airs Sunday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. (4 to 7 p.m. ET) on SiriusXM Patriot. He is the author of a new biography, Roda: “Comrade Kadariye, you are disrupting order.”He recently published an e-book titled ” Not Free or Fair: The 2020 US Presidential ElectionHe is the recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship in 2018. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
