The Latest Breaking News from Jacob Zuma

The ruling ANC is avoiding a coalition government with any one opposition group as it faces its toughest challenge yet.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday that his African National Congress (ANC) would seek to form a government of national unity, after failing to win an outright majority in last week's general election.

ANC, which lost its parliamentary majority for first time in decades, invites other parties to join a unity government.

The African National Congress (ANC), the party that’s led South Africa since the first democratic elections in 1994, has long considered itself a “liberation movement” – representing all South Africans, as the “voice of the people”.

A South African minister was arrested and charged with corruption on Wednesday, as his ANC party wrangles with how to form a new government after major election losses.

South Africans do not have a deep culture of coalitions. There have been a few coalitions at provincial and municipal levels but most of these were quite unstable.

From the moment this year’s South African general election was called, through the whole campaign, the main question everyone here was asking was whether the African National Congress (ANC) could extend its 30-year rule.

Party will have to pick coalition partners and then try to reform itself in response to declining support

As South African President Cyril Ramaphosa urges unity and open dialogue about the upcoming coalition, former President Jacob Zuma boycotted the results ceremony. Despite finishing third, Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party has refused to acknowledge the results. However, the party may still hold significant influence over the country's future.

The governing party has a range of potential partners. But early negotiations suggest that no deal would be easy.

After years of scandal and poor governance, the people are right to want checks and balances, and new voices, says Alexis Akwagyiram, managing editor of Semafor Africa