President Of South Africa: The Parliament Will Open On July 18

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa announced on Friday that the next session of Parliament will begin on July 18. However, due to divisions in the newly formed ruling coalition, he is still involved in negotiations with other parties to establish a Cabinet well in advance of that date.

Disagreements over the distribution of ministerial positions and portfolios have plagued the two-week-old negotiations to finalize the details of a multi-party government and name a Cabinet between Ramaphosa’s African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance, the second-largest party.

The tensions are evident in the disclosed correspondence between the two former political rivals.

In one of the correspondences, Ramaphosa accused DA leader John Steenhuisen and his party of “moving the goalposts” by raising the number of Cabinet jobs they wanted from six to eight, putting the coalition agreement in jeopardy. According to the DA, the ANC broke a pledge to give it authority over the crucial Department of Trade and Industry.

In recent days, Ramaphosa and Steenhuisen have also met in person.

The problems highlight the expert cautions that a coalition bringing the ANC and DA together to rule Africa’s most developed nation would be difficult. Prior to the May 29 election, which brought about an unusual state of affairs in South African politics, the DA was the primary opposition party and the party in power, while the ANC had been in power for more than 20 years. Their philosophies are diametrically opposed.