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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (right) greets opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, John Steenhuisen (left) at the first sitting of Parliament since elections, in Cape Town, on June 14, 2024
CRACKS have appeared in South Africa’s new coalition government as the Democratic Alliance (DA) took the African National Congress (ANC) to court on Thursday over a pre-election speech in May given by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The court papers were submitted to the Electoral Court by the DA in May before it entered into a coalition with the ANC, but it decided to still go ahead with the case.
The DA asked the court to deduct 1 per cent of the vote received by the ANC in the May 29 national election and fine Ramaphosa, the ANC leader, the equivalent of £8,500 and his party £4,220, over what it argues was a presidential address that was used for election campaigning and amounted to an abuse of office.
The shared path of the South African Communist Party and the ANC to the ballot box has found itself at a junction. SABINA PRICE reports
