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On July 18—Nelson Mandela’s birthday—the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, opened a parliament where, for the first time since the advent of democracy thirty years ago, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) was not in the majority. The ANC had led Black South Africans in the struggle against apartheid and brokered the historic settlement that brought the party to power in 1994. But it was dealt a devastating blow in this past May’s elections: it won only 40 percent of the vote, down from 66.5 percent in 1999. Now it is forced to share power with other parties, primarily its bitter rival, the white-led Democratic Alliance (DA), which won 22 percent.
In his address to parliament, Ramaphosa reached for the upside. South Africans had, he said, instructed their leaders to “set aside their political differences and come together as one to overcome the severe challenges that confront our nation.” They had “sent a clear message that without unity, cooperation, and partnership, our efforts to end poverty, unemployment, and inequality will not succeed.”
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