South Africa: An ‘Impossible’ Coalition in the Cards?

The ANC could shun partnerships with extremists in favor of coalition with main opposition, the pro-West, centrist Democratic Alliance.

South African main opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA) contender for the position of federal leader John Steenhuisen addresses the delegates at the party's Federal Congress in Midrand, Johannesburg, on April 2, 2023. (Photo by Michele Spatari / AFP) Photo by MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images

JOHANNESBURG—South Africa goes to the polls on May 29, with a coalition of 11 opposition parties called the Multi-Party Charter (MPC) hoping to break the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) 30-year grip on rule.

Going into the vote, surveys show that the ANC is the weakest it has been since Nelson Mandela led it to power in 1994, following decades of whites-only apartheid rule.