Hopes brighten for South Africa’s troubled coalition government

South Africa’s long-dominant African National Congress party slipped to second place in a recent poll, counterintuitively raising hopes that its troubled coalition government may survive.

The ANC-led 10-party alliance looked set to collapse this month after the Democratic Alliance — the coalition’s second-biggest party — voted against the government’s budget.

Yet an opinion poll this week put the DA ahead of the ANC for the first time, fueling gains in the South African rand as traders bet the ANC will have to give ground to the pro-business DA and that the coalition will ultimately weather the dispute.