By Siyabonga Sishi and Thando Hlophe
PRETORIA (Reuters) -A weakened South African president Cyril Ramaphosa On Wednesday, he pledged that his new multi-party government would work to improve basic living conditions for all citizens as he was sworn in for a second term.
Ramaphosa’s African National Congress will share power with five other parties after it was humiliated in the May 29 elections and lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in three decades of democracy.
Voters “have unequivocally expressed their disappointment and disapproval with our performance in a number of areas where we have let them down,” Ramaphosa said at his inauguration ceremony in the capital Pretoria.
He said voters wanted everyone to have enough food, decent houses, clean water, affordable and uninterrupted electricity supply, well-maintained roads, good care for the sick and elderly, quality schools and other basic amenities.
“Today I stand before you as your humble servant to say that we have heard you,” he said. “Right now, we must choose to move forward, close the distances between South Africans and build a more equal society.”
The ANC remains the largest party after the election, followed by the pro-business Democratic Alliance, a critic of the ANC’s record and which has agreed to join the new government.
IDEOLOGICAL DIVISIONS
While investors have welcomed the inclusion of the DA, which aims to boost growth through structural reforms and sensible fiscal policies, analysts say sharp ideological divisions between the parties could make the government unstable.
Just before the election, Ramaphosa signed a national health insurance bill that prosecutors say could collapse a creaking health care system. It was unclear what would happen to that law under the new government.
The DA is calling for the ANC’s flagship economic empowerment program to be scrapped because it has not worked – a highly controversial issue in a country struggling with vast inequalities, some of which are inherited from apartheid.
Ramaphosa has yet to announce the composition of his new government, which remains to be negotiated with members of the new alliance.
The ANC, a former liberation movement, came to power under the leadership of Nelson Mandela in the 1994 elections, which marked the end of apartheid and had long been undefeated, but lost its luster after years of decline.
POVERTY AND CRIME
Voters were tired of high levels of poverty and unemployment, rampant crime, constant power cuts and corruption in the party ranks. Voters punished the ANC, which lost millions of votes on May 29 compared to the previous elections in 2019.
“Our society remains deeply unequal and highly polarized,” Ramaphosa said.
“We are divided between those who have a job and those who do not work, between those who have the means to build and enjoy a comfortable life, and those who do not.”
African heads of state and dignitaries from as far away as Cuba, a historic friend of the ANC, gathered outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the seat of the South African government, to witness Ramaphosa’s inauguration.
A ceremony full of military pomp and ceremony began with interfaith prayers by Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and traditional African religious leaders, reflecting the diversity of the country.
Military helicopters flew past in the bright sunshine, with South African flags trailing behind them, to cheers from the crowd.
(Additional reporting by Nellie Peyton and Sfundo Parakozov; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
