Unity government is S Africa’s best option

BBC Online :
South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) will invite other political parties to form a government of national unity, its leader President Cyril Ramaphosa has said.
It comes after last week’s election in which the ANC lost its majority for the first time since the end of the racist system of apartheid 30 years ago.
Mr Ramaphosa called for a national dialogue to help rebuild social cohesion, after a “toxic and divisive” election campaign.
Political parties have just over a week to form a government before parliament convenes to elect the president.
Under South Africa’s proportional representation system, for a government to have a guaranteed majority it would need to be formed of parties which together got more than 50% of the vote.
The ANC took a 40% share, with the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) getting 22%, the MK party of former President Jacob Zuma won 15% and the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) 9%. Mr Ramaphosa spoke late on Thursday after the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) held a marathon meeting in Johannesburg, saying the party acknowledged people’s complaints.