Update on South Africa's Government of National Unity and its Rightward Shift

South Africa formed a government of national unity that shifted it toward the right, after the African National Congress lost its majority for the first time since the end of apartheid 30 years ago in the parliamentary elections last month, as I have been posted, and now a new cabinet and other executive officers have been sworn into office. The ANC, which won the most votes and seats, retained the presidency and a majority of the cabinet posts, but the pro-business centrist Democratic Alliance party obtained the deputy presidency and multiple posts. The parties that the DA campaigned with as an electoral bloc, namely the conservative party of the Zulus, who are the second largest tribe in South Africa, the Inkatha Freedom Party; a right-wing party for people of mixed race; and a party for Afrikaans speakers; as well as other smaller parties, also gained cabinet posts, as the already-large cabinet size was increased to include them. The far-left party of a former President convicted of corruption and a Marxist party that wanted to confiscate industries and white-owned farms without compensation, were kept out of the unity government. The new government gives confidence to investors. It is hoped that it can resolve South Africa’s poverty, unemployment, inflation, energy shortages and corruption. The formation of the coalition government, which is the first since the immediate post-apartheid period, marks a shift for southern Africa, where Marxist and socialist dictatorships have ruled since independence.