South Africa’s president to open Parliament after historic election created a coalition government

Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to open a new parliamentary term to mark the official start of business for his 11-party coalition government. It was brought together by an historic election result and has extensive problems to solve in Africa’s most industrialized country. The priorities for the new coalition government were made clear after Ramaphosa’s once-dominant African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in a May 29 election result driven by anger over extremely high levels of unemployment and inequality. Ramaphosa will also come face-to-face Thursday with a new official opposition party in Parliament.