SOUTH AFRICA’S ANC MEETS TO DECIDE ON PREFERRED PARTNERS
Leaders of the African National Congress, ANC began talks on Thursday to try to agree on potential partners to form a new South African government after the ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in the democratic era.
The former liberation movement which has run South Africa since it swept to power with Nelson Mandela at the helm in the 1994 election that marked the end of apartheid was punished for its checkered record in last week’s election.
Though it remains the largest party, the ANC can no longer govern alone and has signalled that it would seek to form a government of national unity with a wide range of parties.
The stakes are high for South Africa, which has been struggling with sluggish economic growth, high levels of poverty and unemployment, a persistent racial wealth divide, severe power shortages and political corruption.
