{"id":284295,"date":"2025-06-09T20:25:44","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T20:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/uncategorized\/south-africas-unlikely-ruling-coalition-survives-its-first-year\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T20:25:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T20:25:44","slug":"south-africas-unlikely-ruling-coalition-survives-its-first-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=284295","title":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s unlikely ruling coalition survives its first year"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The Oval Office t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate between President Donald Trump and his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, was off to a rocky start.<\/p>\n

That morning in May, Mr. Trump dimmed the lights. Then a video began to play, showing a populist South African politician named Julius Malema singing an anti-apartheid song whose chorus translates to, \u201cKill the white farmer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video was proof, Mr. Trump explained, that white South Africans feared for their lives.<\/p>\n

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Why We Wrote This<\/h2>\n

A story focused on<\/span><\/p>\n

When South Africa\u2019s two biggest parties, which were historically rivals, formed a coalition government last year, few thought it would last. But it did, marking a new era of solidarity and compromise in the country\u2019s politics.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Mr. Ramaphosa shot back. \u201cThat is not government policy,\u201d he said. Then another voice chimed in.<\/p>\n

To understand race relations in South Africa, Mr. Trump shouldn\u2019t pay attention to Mr. Malema\u2019s incendiary remarks, explained the country\u2019s minister of agriculture, John Steenhuisen, who is white. Instead, he should look at the multiracial coalition government ruling the country for the past year.<\/p>\n

After more than two decades of bitter rivalry, Mr. Steenhuisen\u2019s party and Mr. Ramaphosa\u2019s had \u201cdecided to join hands,\u201d he continued, in part to keep populists like Mr. Malema out of government.<\/p>\n