Cyril Ramaphosa open to forming South African unity government with rivals

ANC leader and president accepts he will need help of opposition parties to tackle serious problems facing country

South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has said that his African National Congress (ANC) would seek to form a government of national unity with a broad group of opposition parties.

The purpose of the government of national unity must be, first and foremost, to tackle the pressing issues that South Africans want to be addressed," Ramaphosa said late on Thursday after a marathon ANC meeting.