Ramaphosa to skip G7 summit amid domestic political negotiations

The spokesperson for President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday that the president will not be attending this week’s Group of Seven (G7) summit in Italy as his party looks for coalition partners to rule the nation.

After losing its majority in the election held last month for the first time since apartheid’s end, the African National Congress (ANC), led by Ramaphosa, is currently in talks to establish a national unity government with four other parties.

Reports from diplomatic sources stated that Ramaphosa was anticipated to attend the G7 summit on June 13–15 at Italy’s invitation.

Italy is the current G7 rotating presidency and wants to take the grouping beyond the seven industrial democracies: the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.

“The president will not be attending the G7 meeting due to current domestic priorities he needs to focus on,” said Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya to Reuters.

According to previous statements made by Ramaphosa, broad cooperation with various political factions would be the most effective approach to advance South Africa.

The new National Assembly is scheduled to convene for its first session on Friday, putting pressure on the ANC to agree swiftly.

The next president, who is still anticipated to be Ramaphosa given the ANC is still the largest party, will be chosen by the legislature among its first duties.

Out of the 400 seats in the National Assembly, 159 will be held by the ANC. Its nearest rivals are the hard-left Economic Freedom Fighters with 39 seats, the pro-business Democratic Alliance with 87 seats, and the populist uMkhonto we Sizwe, led by former president Jacob Zuma, with 58 seats.