South Africa to form multi-party coalition government in historic "new chapter", DA party says.

The African National Congress and its staunchest advisory, the White-led, Democratic Alliance, forged an unprecedented alliance Friday, agreeing to collaborate in South Africa’s new national unity government, a stunning turn of events ending 30 years of ANC political dominance.

“After two weeks of thorough negotiations that only concluded after today’s sitting parliament had already started, the DA has reached an agreement on the statement of intent for the formation of a Government of National Unity (GNU)”, the DA’s leader John Steenhuisen said in a statement in Cape Town on Friday.

And this means that the party of Former President Nelson Mandela was rebuked for the first time in 30 years. And a new party (the DA) will govern the Republic of South Africa.

The respective parties involved include the ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), and the DA, as Steenhuisen outlined in his statement.

“Today, the 14th of June 2024 will go down in the annals of history as the start of a new chapter for our beloved country,” Steenhuisen said.

The DA, a broadly centrist and “pro-business” party, is seen as the official opposition party to the ANC and has been heavily critical of the ANC for years.

“It is difficult to overstate just how significant this moment is for the Democratic Alliance,” Steenhuisen said, adding that the party will “govern the Republic of South Africa in a spirit of unity and collaboration.”

No party managed to win an outright majority in South Africa’s election last month. Support for the ANC dropped to 40.18%, a huge slump from the 57.5% it received in the last election in 2019. The DA party received 21.8% of the vote.

Former President Jacob Zuma’s newly-formed uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK) had nearly 14.59% of the vote. Another ANC splinter party — the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) — had nearly 10%, with results at 9.52%

The ANC’s Secretary General Fikile Mbalula said on Thursday the party had reached a “breakthrough’’ with political parties in coalition negotiations during a press conference on Thursday in Cape Town.

The announcement comes as the newly elected parliament was convening for the first time and lawmakers were in the process of being sworn in.