South Africa’s New 7-Party Coalition Government Raises Questions on How It Will Govern

Africa’s largest and most industrialized economy has a new national executive, members of which hold vastly different policy positions.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (C), president of the African National Congress, celebrates after the announcement that he would remain his country's president, on June 14, 2024. Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images

JOHANNESBURG—After a month of political maneuvering, South Africa finally has a cabinet to get the country going again after one of the most contested elections in its history.

The African National Congress (ANC) was forced to form a coalition government after it got just 40 percent of the vote in an election on May 29, losing the overwhelming majority that it had held since South Africa’s first democratic election ended apartheid in 1994.