South Africa: Ramaphosa sworn in second time

South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa has been sworn in for a second full term in office as president, despite failing to secure a majority in parliament in last month's election for his African National Congress (ANC).

Lawmakers re-elected him as president last week following a deal between the ANC, its long-time rival Democratic Alliance (DA) and other parties to form a coalition government.

The ANC, which has governed since the end of apartheid in 1994, lost its majority for the first time after the May 29 election produced no outright winner.

Many dignitaries, including several African heads of states, are attending the ceremony.

The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

After Ramaphosa took the oath, a band played the national anthem followed by a 21-gun salute and a fly-past by army helicopters, before he made his inaugural address.

The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party formed six months ago by former President Jacob Zuma says its officials will not participate in the “farcical” inauguration.

The party, which won 15% of votes and obtained 58 parliamentary seats, also boycotted parliament’s first sitting last Friday.

Ramaphosa has kept the presidency even though the ANC vote fell by 17 percentage points and it lost 70 seats in parliament.

He did this through a power-sharing arrangement with the pro-business DA, a historic rival, and other parties.

The ANC got 40% of the vote, while the DA came second with 22%.

The coalition is a move to the political centre because the ANC’s left-wing and populist breakaway parties rejected the invitation to join a national unity government.

Ramaphosa is expected to appoint a cabinet in the coming days, which is to include his new coalition partners – the DA and three other smaller parties. Together, the coalition accounts for 68% of seats in parliament.

The president is also expected to set out an agenda to rescue the flailing economy.

Under his rule, the economic performance has continued to suffer amid power cuts, rising crime and unemployment.

Ramaphosa first became president in 2018 when his predecessor, Zuma, was forced to resign because of corruption allegations - which he denied.

South Africa faces threat of becoming a failed state

South Africa could become a failed state but has yet to reach that point, a senior official of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has said. The admission by ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula comes as South Africa experiences power cuts, known as load-shedding, of up to 10 hours a day.

“This load-shedding has just made a mess of our country,” he told the BBC’s HARDtalk program.

The power cuts have worsened South Africa’s economic crisis.

The country is also battling high levels of corruption, all of which has damaged confidence in the ANC government.

“If certain things are not resolved, we will become a failed state, but we are not journeying towards that direction,” Mbalula said in an exclusive interview with BBC HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur.

“South Africa is undergoing challenges like many other countries but I think to put it into the category of a failed state is an exaggeration,” he added.

While external forces such as global economics, the impact of COVID and the war in Ukraine had all played a role in battering South Africa’s economy, blame also lay partly with “some of our own weaknesses in terms of managing the economy well”, Mbalula acknowledged.

South Africa has an official unemployment rate of about 33%, one of the highest in the world. One in two young South Africans is unemployed and 60% are living under the poverty line.

Yet Mbalula maintained the country was “recovering well” and defended the ANC’s economic record. The party took power in 1994, following the end of the racist system of apartheid.

“We have been able to cushion our people from the worst,” he said, after a legacy of “300 years of deprivation and a mismanaged country and economy”. But he admitted the power crisis was the ANC government’s “Achilles heel”.

According to South Africa’s central bank, it is costing the country at least 2% of gross domestic product (GDP). “We can’t afford that,” Mbalula said.

With elections due next year, the continued blackouts could have seismic political consequences for the ruling party. “It will affect the fortunes of the ANC to receive just an outright majority... if it is not dealt with decisively,” he said.

South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom has $26 billion of debt, old infrastructure, and power stations that do not work properly.

It has led to South Africa’s worst-ever power crisis, and Eskom has warned that the situation could worsen in the winter months of July and August.