The leader of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second-biggest party, signed a coalition agreement with the African National Congress, which won recent general elections but failed to secure a majority in parliament for the first time since the end of the apartheid era. The agreement will also secure President Cyril Ramaphosa, from the ANC, a second term. (AP)
Our Take
Although the ANC won South Africa’s elections, the vote also served as a rebuke of the party—a signal that after three decades in power, a majority of voters are not happy with the ANC’s governance. The challenge for the ANC, now part of a coalition government, will be to meaningfully address the main grievances that led to that rebuke.
As we wrote on the day of the election, the two main, interrelated issues are corruption and governance.