World
Ramaphosa sworn in for second term as South African president
- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been sworn into a second term in office.
- Ramaphosa, first elected in 2018, was administered his oath in a public ceremony Wednesday by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
- Ramaphosa’s African National Congress, the party to which revolutionary geopolitical figure Nelson Mandela once belonged, won its narrowest-ever plurality, forcing a coalition government.
Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn in for a second term as South Africa’s president on Wednesday in a ceremony in the administrative capital, Pretoria, after his reelection with the help from a coalition of parties, a first in the country’s 30-year rule.
Ramaphosa is now set to appoint a Cabinet in a new coalition government after his African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in an election last month. He was reelected president by lawmakers on Friday after the main opposition party and a smaller third party joined the ANC in an agreement to co-govern Africa’s most industrialized economy.
He will have to guide the first coalition government in which no party has a majority. At least three parties will make up what the ANC is calling a government of national unity, with more invited to join.
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Ramaphosa was administered the oath of office in a public ceremony at the Union Buildings, the seat of government, by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
King Mswati III of Eswatini, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, Zimbabwe President Emerson Mnangagwa and former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga were among many dignitaries who attended the inauguration ceremony as Ramaphosa begins what promises to be a tough final term in office.
The ceremony included a 21-gun salute by the presidential guard and a flyover by the South Africa Air Force over the Union Buildings. South African musicians and cultural dancers entertained thousands of citizens who attended the swearing-in.
South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, is sworn in as President at his inauguration at the Union Buildings in Tshwane, South Africa, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Kim Ludbrook/Pool Photo via AP)
Addressing the nation, Ramaphosa said that the people had spoken and their will would be adhered to.
“The voters of South Africa did not give any single party the full mandate to govern our country alone. They have directed us to work together to address their plight and realize their aspirations,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the people of South Africa “have also been unequivocal in expressing their disappointment and disapproval of our performance in some of the areas in which we have failed them.” He also recognized the society “remains deeply unequal and highly polarized,” which could “easily turn into instability.”
“The lines drawn by our history, between black and white, between man and woman, between suburbs and townships, between urban and rural, between the wealthy and the poor, remain etched in our landscape,” he said.
He also promised that the new government would create new work opportunities to face the crippling unemployment as well as work on providing people with basic services like housing, healthcare and clean water.
While Ramphosa’s words were meant to reassure an already economically strained population, the new administration could prove challenging to lead.
It is made up of parties that are ideologically opposed and don’t see eye to eye on how to address the country’s many challenges, including land redistribution policies and proposed solutions to the electricity crisis, as well as their contrary views on affirmative action.
Major players such as the Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party have already joined the coalition, and others like the Patriotic Alliance, the GOOD Party and the Pan Africanist Congress are expected to follow.
However, the third largest party, led by former President Jacob Zuma, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, and the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters party have refused to be part of it.
It is unclear when the formation of the new Cabinet would be announced.
With France set for the polls in the first round of legislative elections on Sunday (30 June), Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National is leading the polls.
France is in midst of a snap election, but what do Berlin, Budapest, Madrid and Rome make of the unfolding saga? How is the prospect of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally leading France viewed in other parts of the continent? Radio Schuman digs into the issue with Euronews correspondents across the continent.
We also preview today’s key European Council meeting – those top jobs still need to be agreed – and delve into how congested it’s getting up in space.
Radio Schuman is hosted and produced by Maïa de la Baume, with journalist and production assistant Eleonora Vasques and audio editing by Zacharia Vigneron. The music is by Alexandre Jas.
World
Bolivian president survives failed coup, calls for 'democracy to be respected,' army general arrested
Bolivian President Luis Arce announced three new heads of the South American country’s armed forces following an attempted coup in which military units used armored vehicles to ram into the doors of Bolivia’s government palace before the army general allegedly responsible was arrested.
The news of the new heads of the army, navy and air force came amid the roar of supporters.
“The country is facing an attempted coup d’état. Here we are, firm in Casa Grande, to confront any coup attempt. We need the Bolivian people to organize,” Arce said in a video message.
Video footage showed troops setting up blockades outside the government palace. Arce said the troops who rose against him were “staining the uniform” of the military.
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Bolivian president Luis Arce (Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
“I order all that are mobilized to return to their units,” said the newly appointed army chief José Wilson Sánchez. “No one wants the images we’re seeing in the streets.”
Soon after, troops began pulling back from the presidential palace.
Arce confronted Army Gen. Juan José Zúñiga, who was recently stripped of his military command and who appeared to be leading the rebellion, in the palace hallway, as shown in a video on Bolivian television. Zúñiga was later arrested after the attorney general opened an investigation against him. It wasn’t immediately clear what the charges were against him.
Zuniga said Arce asked him to storm the palace in a political move.
“The president told me: ‘The situation is very screwed up, very critical. It is necessary to prepare something to raise my popularity’,” Zúñiga told reporters.
Army Cmdr. Gen. Juan Jose Zuniga sits inside an armored vehicle at Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday. Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia’s government palace Wednesday as President Luis Arce said the country faced an attempted coup. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Zúñiga sajd he asked Arce if he should “take out the armored vehicles?” and Arce replied, “Take them out.”
“I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination,” he said.
On X, Arce called for “democracy to be respected.”
The United States said it was closely monitoring the situation and urged calm and restraint.
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LA PAZ, BOLIVIA – JUNE 26: Military Police walk amid tear gas outside the presidential palace at Plaza Murillo on June 26, 2024, in La Paz, Bolivia. President of Bolivia Luis Arce warned about irregular movements of military troops and raises the alert of a possible Coup d’état. (Photo by Gaston Brito Miserocchi/Getty Image)
Bolivia, a country of 12 million people, has seen intensifying protests in recent months over the economy’s precipitous decline from one of the continent’s fastest-growing two decades ago to one of its most crisis-stricken.
The country also has seen a high-profile rift at the highest levels of the governing party. Arce and his one-time ally, leftist icon and former President Morales, have been battling for the future of Bolivia’s splintering Movement for Socialism, known by its Spanish acronym MAS, ahead of elections in 2025.
The leadership of Bolivia’s largest labor union condemned the action and declared an indefinite strike of social and labor organizations in La Paz in defense of the government.
The incident was met with a wave of outrage by other regional leaders, including the Organization of American States; Gabriel Boric, the president of neighboring Chile; the leader of Honduras, and former Bolivian leaders.
26 June 2024, Bolivia, La Paz: Supporters of Bolivian President Arce rally in support of democracy near the government palace during an attempted coup. (Photo by Radoslaw Czajkowski/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The most recent attempted coup on the continent occurred in December 2022 when Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was arrested the same day that he attempted to dissolve Congress, declare a state of emergency and re-write the constitution. He was eventually impeached and removed from office.
“Brazil’s position is clear. I am a lover of democracy and I want it to prevail throughout Latin America. We condemn any form of coup d’état in Bolivia and reaffirm our commitment to the people and democracy in our sister country,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wrote on X.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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