By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said he has awarded 12 out of 32 ministerial slots to the opposition parties in his coalition government.
Democractic Alliance (DA), which is the main opposition party got six ministries including education, public works and environment, while six other posts went to smaller parties.
The governing African National Congress (ANC) retains 20 ministries including finance, foreign affairs, energy and defence.
Ramaphosa announced opposition leader John Steenhuisen of the Democratic Alliance (DA) as the Minister of Agriculture.
Heritage Times reports that in the May 29 general election, the 71-year-old leader of the Southern African country was re-elected for a second term in office in which his ANC for the first time in over three decades lost outright majority in the cabinet, leaving him with option of coalition to retain power as the President.
“The minister of agriculture is John Steenhuisen,” Ramaphosa said from Pretoria in a televised address to the nation.
Heritage Times HT reports that there have been intense politicking on power sharing formular between the ANC and its new allies in which Ramaphosa accused opposition leader, Steenhuisen, of attempting to create a “parallel government” in breach of the constitution, just weeks after the coalition agreement was reached.
The ANC, the party of late Nelson Mandela that has governed South Africa since the advent of democracy in 1994 also accused the DA of making “outrageous demands” for more than 10 cabinet positions, some of which are key portfolios.
The DA won 87 parliamentary seats compared to the ANC’s 159.
On Saturday, leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) led by Julius Malema, a former ANC youth leader made an eleventh hour counter proposal to the government of national unity, pitching an exclusive coalition with the ANC and other leftist parties. His party got 9.5% cabinet seats.
