South Africa’s DA not walking away from cabinet negotiations, party source says

By Wendell Roelf

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA) party is not walking away from negotiations over positions in President Cyril Ramaphosa‘s cabinet, a DA source close to the talks told Reuters.

The comments follow local media reports that there had been a major disagreement between the pro-business DA and Ramaphosa’s African National Congress over the trade and industry portfolio, threatening to derail the collaboration between the two parties.

“We are still committed to honest and fair negotiations,” the DA party source said.

“Our Federal Executive met yesterday late afternoon, early evening and it was resolved that we will continue to negotiate. So, at this point we are not at the point of drawing lines in the sand and giving final ultimatums.”

A DA spokesperson said the party would communicate officially when negotiations were finalised.

The ANC and the DA are the largest of the 10 parties in the unity government that emerged after Ramaphosa’s ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in an election last month.

Financial markets are on edge over the composition of the cabinet as it will give an early indication of how the ANC intends to share power.

The DA and a handful of other smaller parties are expected to get cabinet positions.

The News24 website and the Business Day newspaper reported on Thursday that Ramaphosa had backtracked on an offer to give the DA the trade and industry minister’s position, angering the DA.

But the DA source told Reuters that their understanding was that the party’s main focus was ensuring it received meaningful cabinet portfolios, rather than it being dead set on getting trade and industry specifically.

An ANC spokesperson did not answer a phone call seeking comment.

The rand strengthened sharply on Friday morning, trading up more than 1% against the dollar on the day in volatile trade and erasing most of the previous day’s losses.

Analysts say the rand is likely to remain choppy until the cabinet is announced.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Writing by Alexander Winning; Editing by Joe Bavier and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)