A landmark moment for South Africa

Hello. Today my colleagues in Cape Town are covering a sea change in South Africa's politics. Cyril Ramaphosa will still be president, but he will have to govern with some of his rivals in a historic union government. Your newsletter also features Kenyan fiscal policy, US conservatism and Ghanaian photography.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

A union borne out of necessity

Cyril Ramaphosa is set to be reelected president. Credit: Reuters

South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) and the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) have agreed to form a government of national unity, along with two smaller opposition parties. For the first time in 30 years the ANC was forced to negotiate an agreement after losing its controlling majority in elections.

Why is this such a big moment?

The ANC's new partners include the white-led Democratic Alliance - a pairing once considered unimaginable by many in South Africa. The DA grew out of a union of groups which included what was left of the apartheid-era ruling National Party, and is an advocate of free-market economics at odds with the ANC’s left-wing traditions.

But hasn’t this happened before?

This is not a national unity alliance like the one negotiated by Nelson Mandela in 1994. At that time the ANC reached across the divide from a position of strength. Now it is doing so from a position of political necessity. "It’s just a bit of camouflaging so that people don’t have to own that it’s a grand coalition,” says TK Pooe from the Wits University School of Governance in Johannesburg. The alliance does not include the parties which came third and fourth, and are on ANC's left.

What is splitting the two parties?

Perhaps the biggest and most contentious issues are DA opposition to the ANC's national health care policy, and its black economic empowerment programme. The DA says the affirmative action measures are inefficient, do not reward meritocracy and enrich ANC cronies. ANC supporters will wonder whether the party of liberation will be forced to soften its ideology to align with its new partners.

EDITOR'S PICKS

THE BIG PICTURE

Trump conservatives' wish list

Heritage says Project 2025 was written by several former Trump appointees. Credit: EPA

The Heritage Foundation is one of the most influential conservative think tanks in the US. It published in April a policy paper called Project 2025, effectively a wish list for a potential second Trump presidency. Its calls to sack thousands of civil servants and make sweeping tax cuts have prompted the launch this week of a Democratic "task force" against the platform.

And finally... in Ghana

James Barnor, considered Ghana's first photojournalist, is being honoured in his home country as he marks his 95th birthday. Since the 1950s, he has showcased daily life in the streets of Accra, as well as Muhammad Ali and the country's first president, Kwame Nkrumah. Listen to the legendary photographer talking us through some of his favourite shots.