Tag: main

South Africa’s Main Opposition Leader Resists Coalition With ANC


(Bloomberg) — South Africa’s main opposition party will resist forming a coalition with the ruling African National Congress in order to govern the country should it need to.

Most Read from Bloomberg

“We don’t want to be in government with the ANC,” John Steenhuisen, the Democratic Alliance’s leader, said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “I don’t think we’re going to solve the country’s problems by having the same people who are responsible for the economic crisis, the social crisis, and the infrastructure crisis sitting around the table.”

South Africa is on the cusp of an era of national coalition politics after elections scheduled for May 29. Opinion polls suggest the ANC will lose its overall majority for the first time since it came to power at the end of apartheid 30 years ago.

Steenhuisen, 48, has spearheaded the formation of a bloc of 11 opposition parties that aims to form a coalition government after the vote. Members of the Multi Party Charter have ruled out working with the ANC or the populist Economic Freedom Fighters, currently the third-biggest group, and polls show they’ll collectively struggle to obtain even 40% support. A survey by the Social Research Foundation indicates that an ANC-DA tie-up would be the one favored by most South Africans.

The DA, which espouses market-friendly policies, currently controls the Western Cape — the only province not run by the ANC — and won 21% of the vote in the last national election in 2019. It has also wrested control of several major towns in municipal elections by forming alliances with other parties, but some of those coalitions have proved unstable, with power changing hands several times and some services griding to a halt.

Steenhuisen called new “popcorn” parties that split the opposition vote “the biggest threat” to reducing the ANC’s majority.

“That’s why I’m saying in this election, vote for the DA — first prize. But if you’re not going to vote for the DA, vote for the Multi Party Charter parties.”

The DA head said former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party differs from other new ones because it had a leader with significant name recognition and that it has already made inroads in by-elections.

Read more: South Africa’s ANC Dismisses Rival Zuma Party as a Nuisance

“They’re devouring the ANC and what does that do?,” Steenhuisen said. “It helps lower the ANC’s majority and give the Multi Party Charter an even better chance of being able to get into government in places like KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and nationally.”

A survey released by the SRF this month shows support for the DA is slipping in the Western Cape, and that it may be forced into a coalition in the province, though it’s likely to remain by far the biggest party in the region.

Read More: South Africa’s DA May Lose Majority in Western Cape, SRF Says

The DA faced internal turmoil when Mmusi Maimane, its first Black leader, exited in 2019 and a number of its other senior Black members followed suit, with some of them taking issue with the DA’s policy on race. While the municipalities it controls are regarded as being among the country’s better-run, its top leadership is predominantly White and it has struggled to increase support among the Black majority.

Asked whether South Africans would be hesitant to vote for a party in which a majority of parliamentarians are White, Steenhuisen said citizens want politicians who can address service-provision problems and lift the poor out of poverty.

“People in this election are not looking for the color of the cat — they’re looking at who’s going to catch the mouse,” he said. “You don’t need to be a poor Black South African to get up every morning as I do and fight for a better life for those people.”

Among the policy proposals outlined in the DA’s manifesto are the scrapping of race-based economic redress — a cornerstone of ANC policy — and converting a temporary monthly stipend that was introduced to cushion the unemployed against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic into a permanent job seekers grant at an additional cost of 39.6 billion rand ($1.95 billion).

It also favors breaking the monopoly of state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., whose failure to adequately maintain its plants and invest in new generation capacity has led to years of rolling blackouts. The DA would instead increase investment in electricity transmission.

–With assistance from Gordon Bell.

(Updates with comment from Steenhuisen in sixth paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.



Source link

South Africa’s main opposition party may consider deal with ANC


By Tim Cocks and Nellie Peyton

JOHANNESBURG, March 25 (Reuters) – South Africa’s second most popular party the Democratic Alliance (DA) would consider a deal with the ruling African National Congress should the ANC fail to get the majority it needs to retain power in May elections, its leader said on Monday.

Pollsters expect the ANC to lose its legislative majority on May 29 for the first time since Nelson Mandela took power at the end of apartheid 30 years ago, with voters unhappy with poor service delivery, joblessness, crime and power cuts.

If that happens, President Cyril Ramaphosa or a successor for the top job would be unable to stay on without a coalition, since South Africa’s parliament elects the president.

“It would depend which ANC you’re dealing with and what their programme of action is,” DA leader John Steenhuisen said, declining to disclose whether any talks had already taken place.

“I’m not ruling out anything, depending on what the election results are.”

The ANC’s Deputy Party Secretary Nomvula Mokonyane told Reuters earlier this month the party was not considering a coalition government with other parties, and that she did not think a power-sharing deal would work.

The DA has banded together with smaller parties to try to capture the more than 50% of the vote needed to take power.

They include the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party, long a bitter rival of the ANC, as well as Freedom Front Plus, which appeals to rural white South Africans who feel politically marginalised since the fall of apartheid, and Action SA, which has built a platform on a tough anti-immigration stance and appeals to working and middle class voters.

“It’s a long shot,” Steenhuisen said. He added that if the opposition coalition did not win, his priority would be to prevent the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) getting a seat on the executive.

The DA is seen as a pro-business party, whereas businesses and wealthy individuals dislike the EFF, which is popular with poor, Black South Africans. The EFF promises to nationalise industries and fix inequalities in land ownership.

“I won’t sit back and just watch the country handed over to the radical Socialists,” Steenhuisen said. “If the (opposition coalition) doesn’t get over the line, we may have to look at making what is the least worst option.”

If in power, the DA would seek to pursue its policy of privatising the power sector rather than rely on state provider Eskom, and eliminating red tape to make it easier for the private sector to operate, Steenhuisen said.

He reiterated the DA policy of abandoning the ANC’s flagship Black empowerment scheme in favour of one focused solely on reducing poverty, regardless of skin colour.

Race is a divisive issue in South Africa, and the DA is still seen by many as the party of white privilege.

“I don’t buy that,” Steenhuisen said. “The biggest beneficiaries of good, clean, accountable government are poor, marginalised South Africans.” (Editing by Barbara Lewis)



Source link

Syria’s main al-Qaida-linked group denies it was behind the killing of an Islamic State leader


BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s main insurgent al-Qaida-linked group denied it was behind the killing of the Islamic State group’s leader in the country’s northwest saying it would have otherwise claimed responsibility.

The security arm of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, made the announcement Friday night, a day after IS blamed the Syrian insurgent group for the death of its little-known leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi, who headed the extremist organization since November.

“We categorically deny this claim,” the spokesman of HTS, General Security Diaa al-Omar, said in a terse statement.

He said HTS would continue to fight “evil acts” by IS in rebel-held parts of Syria, adding that had his group been behind al-Qurayshi’s death “we would have given the good news to Muslims and announced it directly.”

Al-Qurayshi was the fourth IS leader to be killed since the group was founded by Iraqi militant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in June 2014 before its defeat years later.

Abu Hafs al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi was named the group’s new leader on Thursday.

The Islamic State group broke away from al-Qaida a decade ago and attracted supporters from around the world. Despite its defeat in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, IS militants still carry out deadly attacks in both countries and elsewhere.

Since IS broke away from al-Qaida, both groups fought deadly battles over the past years in northern Syria.

In April, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish intelligence agents had killed al-Qurayshi in northern Syria — a statement that IS denied saying he was killed by HTS and was later handed over to Turkish authorities.



Source link

Passenger injures Delta flight attendant with “sharp object” at New Orleans’ main airport, authorities say


A passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight that had just arrived at Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner, Louisiana, just outside New Orleans got into what a source at the carrier depicted to CBS News as a “physical altercation” with a flight attendant Wednesday afternoon.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Nelson Montgomery, 39, of New Orleans, “is believed to have injured himself using a sharp object,” then “grabbed a flight attendant” and injured her with it.

“She suffered two superficial lacerations … and was later treated on scene,” the statement said, adding that  Montgomery “was subdued by several passengers and held until deputies arrived at the aircraft to arrest him.”

Montgomery was treated at a local hospital for injuries that aren’t considered life-threatening, the statement continued, and was to be booked on charges of aggravated battery, disturbing the peace, and simple battery.

The airport declined to comment to CBS News.

There was no word on what prompted the alleged actions by the passenger.



Source link