Cyril Ramaphosa outlines his plans

South Africa’s parliament appears to have entered a new era – an era of political maturity.

It was the first time President Cyril Ramaphosa had laid out his plans since taking office as a coalition government, and the atmosphere was very different from before – no distractions, no chaos, no fighting.

This was due to the African National Congress (ANC) failing to secure more than 50% of the vote for the first time in the democratic era.

Former President Jacob Zuma, leader of the MK party, but Banned from running for parliament just before the May election — declined an invitation to attend Thursday’s meeting.

With the opening of parliament, the People’s Spear Party, which had been established for less than a year, was recognized as the official opposition party.

The court’s leader, former judge John Hlophe, has pledged not to engage in petty politics.

Elsewhere, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), known for disruptive, heckling and bickering in Parliament, has pledged reforms, with party leader Julius Malema saying the EFF will be a constructive opposition.

Members of the Democratic Alliance (DA) – formerly South Africa’s official opposition but now part of the coalition government – nodded and applauded during the hour-long speech as ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the top priorities.

These goals include rapid, inclusive economic growth, job creation and addressing the high cost of basic goods.

The African National Congress, led by Ramaphosa, entered parliament with the fewest seats since it came to power 30 years ago.

After losing its parliamentary majority, the ANC Formed an initially uneasy coalition with nine other partiesRamaphosa’s speech came after the Coalition government’s first cabinet meeting since the vote.

He told parliament that the meeting “underlined the determination of all members of the Government of National Unity to work together to promote the interests of all South Africans”.

The priorities he announced were largely a blend of ANC policies, with some concessions to accommodate the concerns of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second-largest party and the ANC’s long-time rival.

The pro-free-market DA is ideologically at odds with the ANC’s social welfare tradition and is seen by many as pandering to the interests of the white minority, something the DA denies.

In his speech, Ramaphosa was adamant that economic growth must “support the empowerment of black South Africans and women and those who have been marginalized in the economy in the past.”

The government, which has the support of 70% of MPs, has pledged “massive” investment in infrastructure, turning the entire country “into a construction site”.

The second focus area is to expand the range of basic foods exempt from VAT to address the high cost of living.

TK Pooe, a senior research fellow at the University of the West Indies’ School of Political Science, told the BBC that this was a move the Democratic Alliance had been lobbying for to combat poverty.

Another concession is ANC plans to introduce mandatory healthcare for all, It will now go ahead after consultation with stakeholders. The DA and private health insurance groups had threatened legal action, saying the plan infringed on the right to choose a service provider.

“The courts will be a last resort,” Democratic Alliance leader and Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen told reporters outside parliament.

“We now have in government a forum where we can negotiate,” he said, welcoming Ramaphosa’s speech.

New Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie was also delighted, calling it Mr Ramaphosa’s “best” speech ever.

However, John Trollip of non-new government party Action SA said the president’s speech lacked credibility and sounded like many previous speeches.

“It is clear that the president has no plan to make South Africa a better place,” Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters told state broadcaster South African Broadcasting Corporation.

But Puy said foreign policy, which the president did not explicitly mention, and the ANC’s relations with Gaza and Russia were just as important as the priorities he outlined.

Referring to the Democratic Alliance’s support for Israel, he said: “It will be interesting to see whether statements about Israel and Russia may now become more toned down to accommodate the multiple voices in the room.”

Councillor John Hlophe agreed.

“He didn’t talk about the Palestinian issue because the Democratic Alliance was spying on him,” he said. Mr Hlofi added that the speech was “shocking” for not mentioning uncompensated land reform – a core MK policy and a key issue across the country.

Whites make up only 7% of the total population, but own the vast majority of individually held farmland.

There has been debate over whether the state should redistribute these lands without paying anything to the landowners.

Mr. Pu thought the president’s speech did not make too many promises.

“We’re not expecting to see radical change, which is probably a good thing. (The speech said) These are the bottlenecks that are holding the country back: energy, infrastructure, local government, these are the issues that need to be addressed,” he said.

“It would be much better for South Africa if the Grand Alliance could stick to these goals and allow private players to get involved in other matters.”

Perhaps intentionally, the opening of Parliament coincided with the birthday of the country’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, who at the time symbolized hope and rebirth for a country in crisis.

Thursday’s election may not fully revive hopes, but Ramaphosa said the coalition government would “seek to find consensus on the issues where we disagree”.

He acknowledged that they had to work hard to reach that consensus.