South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA) is committed to working out a deal over posts in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet, a party source close to the talks told Reuters on Friday, in response to reports that negotiations were at risk of collapse.
And a senior official on the negotiating team for Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) said the coalition discussions were “almost done”.
South African media had reported that a major disagreement between the pro-business DA and the ANC over the trade and industry portfolio had threatened to derail the collaboration between the two parties.
“We are still committed to honest and fair negotiations,” the DA party source said.
“Our Federal Executive met yesterday late afternoon, early evening and it was resolved that we will continue to negotiate. So, at this point we are not at the point of drawing lines in the sand and giving final ultimatums.”
A DA spokesperson said the party would communicate officially when negotiations were finalised.
The ANC, the legacy liberation movement of Nelson Mandela, and the white-led DA are the largest of the 10 parties in the government of national unity (GNU) that emerged after Ramaphosa’s ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in an election last month.
Once unthinkable, the accord between the ANC and the DA allowed Ramaphosa to win a second term in office.
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ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, writing on X, sought to assuage fears of an impasse.
“Almost done with GNU discussions,” he wrote. “It will be done as promised.”
Financial markets are on edge over the composition of the cabinet as it will give an early indication of how the ANC intends to share power.
The rand strengthened sharply on Friday, reversing the previous day’s losses, on optimism that the ANC and DA would iron out their differences in cabinet negotiations.
This week’s disagreement stems from a decision by Ramaphosa to backtrack on an offer to give the DA the trade and industry minister’s position, according to the News24 website and Business Day newspaper.
The trade ministry is seen as particularly significant because it oversees the government’s flagship policy of boosting Black South Africans’ participation in the economy, as well as the competition commission, which scrutinises mergers and acquisitions.
The DA wants to scrap some of the ANC’s Black empowerment programmes, saying they have not worked and have mostly benefited a politically-connected elite.
Nonkululeko Sibiya, a political analyst studying at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, said the difficulties forming the cabinet showed how far apart the parties were ideologically.
While the unity government originally evoked memories of 1994 and the transition to democracy, Sibiya said, “now the real horse-trading has begun and people are fighting for ministerial positions, which makes it a very hostile environment”.
The DA source told Reuters they understood the party’s main focus to be receiving meaningful cabinet portfolios, rather than specifically getting trade and industry.
The political risk consultancy Eurasia Group said the DA was unlikely to withdraw from the unity government, even if its leaders were not fully satisfied with the portfolios they were given.
“The DA needs to prove to its base that it will at least attempt to take advantage of an opportunity to make an impact in government,” Eurasia Group analysts wrote.