By Tim Cox and Tanur Anders
South African President Ramaphosa Announces Cabinet Including Former Opposition Leader {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
JOHANNESBURG – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday appointed former opposition leader John Steenhuisen as agriculture minister, incorporating the Democratic Alliance and other parties into a new coalition government.
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President Ramaphosa's African National Congress has been forced to form an alliance with rival parties to stay in power after losing its majority in the May 29 general election for the first time in three decades.
The announcement of the new cabinet of the Government of National Accord came after several weeks of lengthy and sometimes heated negotiations.
President Ramaphosa retained the ANC's Enoch Godongwana as finance minister, while he appointed Ronald Lamola as minister of international relations and cooperation, replacing Naledi Pandor.
Gwede Mantashe remained as minister of minerals and petroleum resources, but the president removed energy from his mandate, a mix of mineral resources seen by many as creating a bias in favour of coal as a source of electricity generation.
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Energy will now be under the jurisdiction of Minister of Power Kosientosho Ramokgopa.
“The men and women I have appointed to my administration reflect the diversity of our country,” President Ramaphosa said. “My new administration will work together in a spirit of partnership and collaboration.”
The wrangling over who would get which cabinet posts was the final hurdle to forming a government that now faces the challenge of reviving a faltering economy, repairing crumbling roads and power plants and creating jobs for a third of South Africa's unemployed.
“I look forward to being part of this new era in South Africa's democratic journey and delivering real, tangible change for the millions of people who voted for it,” Steenhausen said in a statement after the announcement.
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Several smaller parties also had their leaders appointed as ministers.
ANC takes hit in polls
For decades, the ANC has touted the legacy of Nelson Mandela, who came to power 30 years ago and ended apartheid, reconciling a country deeply divided along racial, ethnic and class lines.
But voters were angered by the ANC's poor record in providing basic services such as water, schools and electricity.
“This is a big reform and very few of the old faces are left, which is a good thing,” said Melanie Vervoorde, a former South African diplomat and political analyst. “I think it's a very positive step overall, and of course it's very positive that they were able to actually get this done.”
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Analysts say whether the current loose coalition of former adversaries can improve the ANC's performance may depend on how well they can set aside ideological differences. There are several potential obstacles to policymaking.
The DA wants to scrap some of the ANC's black empowerment programs, which it argues have primarily made a politically connected business elite enormously wealthy while leaving many black people in poverty.
The group opposes the ANC's desire to expropriate, without compensation, land that remains in white hands as a legacy of colonial conquest and subsequent white-minority rule, and give it to black farmers.
The DA also seeks to clarify South Africa's minimum wage, currently R27.58 an hour, which it argues makes workers uncompetitive.
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This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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