Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn in for a second term as South Africa’s President to head a coalition government on Wednesday, despite his failure to secure a majority in parliament for the African National Congress (ANC) in last month’s election.

Ramaphosa’s ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years in last month’s elections. However, the ANC and the Democratic Alliance struck a historic deal to form a coalition government by setting aside their rivalry.

While the ANC got 40 per cent of the vote in the election, the Democratic Alliance (DA) came second with 22 per cent.

“I swear I will be faithful to the Republic of South Africa... I will obey, observe and uphold the constitution and all other laws of the republic,” said Ramaphosa, 71, who was sworn in at the Union Buildings in Pretoria by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

Ramaphosa said that South Africans should not be distracted by attempts to turn citizens against each other as the country enters a Government of National Unity.

“We must reject every attempt to divide or distract us, to sow doubt or cynicism, or to turn us against one another. Those who seek to stand in our way, those who seek to inflame tensions, will not succeed, because South Africans are resolute,” Ramaphosa said at the seat of government, the Union Buildings, as thousands of guests, including heads of state and representatives from several countries looked on.

The new government of national unity combines Ramaphosa’s ANC, the centre-right DA and smaller parties.

“Those who seek to undermine our institutions will fail because democracy lives in the hearts of our people and will never be dislodged,” he said, in what analysts believed was a clear reference, without naming them, to the Economic Freedom Fighters and Mkhonto weSizwe (MK), the new party formed by ousted former president Jacob Zuma.

               These two parties, which came third and fourth in the general elections last month, refused to join the Government of National Unity (GNU), because the African National Congress, which lost its majority since Nelson Mandela led it to victory in 1994, has teamed up with the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) for the GNU. The DA was born out of former whites-only parties and is still led largely by whites, although they have committed to following the Constitution and its principles of non-racialism.

Zuma has also challenged the validity of the elections, alleging irregularities, although his party has not provided any public proof of these claims yet despite going to court on the matter.

“Nothing will distract us from serving the people and advancing their interests. We declare for all to know that neither discord nor dissent shall cause us to cast aside that which calls us to build a united, free, just, equal and prosperous

nation.

“In our brilliant diversity, we gather to affirm our solemn conviction that this country belongs to all who live in it, as articulated in the Freedom Charter almost seventy years ago,” Ramaphosa asserted.

“We gather here, as people born of the same soil across our nine provinces that make up a unitary South Africa, determined that by our deeds we shall heal the divisions of our past, and overcome the ongoing inequalities and hardships of the present,” he added.

Confirming that the electorate had expressed its will by not giving a single party the full mandate to govern South Africa alone, Ramaphosa also conceded that the ANC government of the past three decades had failed the nation.

“Above all, the people of South Africa have stressed that they are impatient with political bickering and the endless blame game among politicians and political parties. They want us to put their needs and aspirations first and they want us to work together for the sake of our country,” he said.

Referring to the changes after decades of white minority apartheid rule, Ramaphosa said there was now a transformed public service, an independent judiciary, a competitive electoral system, a sophisticated economy, a vibrant and free media, and a robust civil society. “And yet, despite this progress, our society remains deeply unequal and highly polarised. There are toxic cleavages and an incipient social fragmentation that can easily turn into instability.

               “The lines drawn by our history, between black and white, between man and woman, between suburbs and townships, between urban and rural, between the wealthy and the poor, remain etched in our landscape. In places, these lines may have faded, but they have not disappeared,” the President said as he called on all parties, civil society, labour, business and other formations to join a National Dialogue on the critical challenges facing the nation.

               “It is a moment when we must choose to either move forward together or risk losing all we have built. As individuals, as families, as communities and in our many formations, let us draw on our every strength to turn our dream for a better South African into reality,” Ramaphosa added.