In the aftermath of the general elections, South Africa’s largest political party during the new parliament’s meeting on Friday will propose a “unity government” with all major political parties for the first time since Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

The recent elections revoked the African National Congress’s majority in parliament for the first time since 1994, with the former liberation party winning just 40 percent of the vote this year compared to 57.5 percent in 2019. 

The national unity government would include as many political parties in the legislature as possible, which means that the ANC would have to overcome polarizing ideological differences with its political neighbors for President Ramaphosa to see a second and final term.

“It is critical to move beyond the negative zero sum politics that has characterized much of the 2024 election campaigning; South Africa can’t afford this fragmentation,” the Southern Africa Programme head at the Institute for Security Studies, Piers Pigou, said on X.

Mandela was the last president to successfully form and steer a national unity government of this sort in the country, after the ANC failed to win a two-thirds majority in the first post-apartheid election. That regime included all parties with 10 percent of the vote or more.

Mr. Ramaphosa said in a press conference that the ANC is engaged in negotiations with opposing parties such as the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters to form political alliances before parliament must elect a new president on June 16. 

Mr. Ramaphosa said that any such agreement must be based on a “common minimum program” that “focuses on measurable targets for economic growth and inclusion on service delivery development.”

“All parties must commit to shared values, nation building, and social cohesion,” he added. “These values include respect for the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the rule of law, social justice and equity, human dignity, non-racialism, and non-sexism.”

This effort evokes images of Mandela’s liberation efforts to unite the country during apartheid. However, the proposed unity government has sparked debate among many South Africans.

Many grassroots members of the ANC are bitterly opposed to a coalition with their direct rivals in the Democratic Alliance. Some ANC supporters and allies have accused their rivals of prioritizing the interests of South Africa’s white citizens over its majority black population, according to AP. 

A senior research fellow at the University of Johannesburg, Oscar van Heerden, said in a statement that “parties that did well in this election … campaigned on very narrow nationalistic identity politics,” and that this election hindered progress toward a “united, non-racial society.”

The white-led, pro-business Democratic Alliance registered 21.81 percent of votes last week, with Umkhonto We Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), the party of a former president, Jacob Zuma, trailing with 14.58 percent, and the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters in tow with 9.52 percent, according to a report by Al Jazeera.

The head of policy at the Free Market Foundation, Martin van Staden, told the Sun that the proposed government is “fraught with unacceptable risk” because of the potential centralization of power in parliament.

“The opposition parties must remain in the opposition and offer the ANC an arm’s length ‘confidence-and-supply’ lifeline which will enable the latter to operate as a minority government.” he said. “Confidence and supply means the opposition promises to not remove the ANC Cabinet and will approve the annual government budget.”

“This would ensure predictability and certainty, but also recognizes the historic opportunity South Africa has for the first time since Apartheid ended for there to be real political contestation and debate in Parliament,” Mr. van Staden added. “Now that the ANC has only 40 percent of the seats, it can no longer steamroll laws through the process, or neglect to provide oversight when its own corrupt officials are implicated, and must now in fact engage in negotiation and persuasion.”