Rebuilding South Africa's 'beyond-repair' infrastructure is key to boost industry and employment

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will be sworn in for a second term in Pretoria on Wednesday after his African National Congress struck a government coalition deal following disappointing elections. The May 29th polls produced no overall winner and the ANC suffered its worst score since the end of apartheid in 1994. Ramaphosa came to power promising to tackle corruption and South Africa's energy crisis, but his time in office has been plagued by power cuts and rising unemployment. And for more on this, we can bring in Stephen Chan, professor of Politics and International Studies at SOAS in London and specialist on South African politics. Good morning, Stephen Cyril Ramaphosa is sworn in for a second full term today. Can this be considered a victory for the South African president? It's a temporary victory. He had to put this coalition together underneath a very great deal of stress and pressure. It remains to be seen whether this coalition will work. It does mean compromises all the way down the line for the next five years in terms of government policy and whether or not this will allow redress of situations like the electricity cuts and increase in employment and things of that nature. We'll have to see whether there's an actual unified government or a divided one that hinders all of these efforts. Under the election last month, it's fallout has brought South Africa a coalition government for the first time, with at least five parties involved. How is this going to affect Ramapulsa's own manoeuvres? Basically five parties gives, in fact Ramapulses some room for manoeuvre because there has to be consensus among the parties for major government decisions. In a way, having smaller parties in the coalition allows Ramaphosa to try to outflank the major party in the coalition, the Democratic Alliance. That has been putting a great deal of pressure on Ramaphosa. But what this means is that you're going to have an administration for the next five years of constant manoeuvre, constant politics, and it remains to be seen whether the kind of decisive action the government needs to take will be able to be taken. And how is this new era of politics going to change the political landscape in South Africa, Be it the former opposition Democratic Alliance, which is entering government for the first time, or for instance, the left wing Economic Freedom Fighters. The Economic Freedom Fighters, together with Jacob Zuma's MK Party, will be an opposition, quite a strong opposition in terms of government, depending on the shape of the formal coalition, and the portfolios haven't been announced yet. Sometime after the inauguration, perhaps they will be announced. But what you're going to have is a jockeying for position and basically the 2029 election campaign starts now as each of the parties in the coalition seeks to outshine the others. So the whole idea is not so much to work for the common good, but to work for party advantage, to poison for taking power in a decisive fashion. Five years down the line. And the Cyril Ramaphosa came into office as a new broom following the corruption tainted presidency of Jacob Zuma. Is the president still considered to be a difference from what has gone before? He's more technocratic, of course, than Zuma. And he did put up with Zuma as a deputy in the Zuma government. So what you have is a mixture. He's obviously extremely intellectually well put together. But the real problem is not just the president. What you've got is a party, the ANC, that has fallen way behind the times. The president may have technocratic instincts, but the party itself is full of people who are not at all technocratic. There's no emerging youth wing. What was the youth wing left performed? The economic freedom fighters, because they've thought they were not encouraged to come through. So you've got as we are, fossilized ANC and the party is going to be a drag on any president no matter which party he comes from in a unity government. Clear skies thinking, new thinking, technocratic thinking. That is not a great skill set in South Africa right now. And finally, as South Africa has continued to grapple with serious problems during Ramapulsa's time in office, such as energy shortages, crime and rising unemployment, is there any prospect of the new government moving the needle on those problems over the next five years? Infrastructure renewal, because a lot of infrastructure is beyond repair and basically has to be reconstructed from scratch. That's going to cost billions in terms of investment. So the new government has got to give the least impression of stability to attract international investment because there quite simply isn't enough money in South Africa itself to do all of this. Infrastructure that works, particularly electricity, will encourage industry. Industry would encourage employment. What you've got is a cascade and cause and effect situation in South Africa, but they've got to start with infrastructure before anything else starts to work. Thank you very much for that. Stephen Chan, professor of politics and International Studies at SOAS in London.