Pretoria: Cyril Ramaphosa was elected leader of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, threatening President Jacob Zuma’s grip on power after the most divisive vote in the party’s history. After hours of tension at the ANC’s five-yearly congress that included a recount, Ramaphosa, the deputy president, narrowly defeated Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Zuma’s former wife, whom the president had backed.
Analysts believe Zuma lent Dlamini-Zuma support because he hoped she would protect him from prosecution in a corruption case once she succeeded him as South African president. Ramaphosa won by 2,440 votes to 2,261, prompting cheering, dancing and singing among his supporters at the climax of the a three-day congress marked by long hours of backroom political infighting.
Ramaphosa campaigned on a promise to root out corruption and rescue the ANC, the party that defeated apartheid under Nelson Mandela’s leadership which is now at risk of losing its majority for the first time at the 2019 election.
His victory could lead to the ANC sacking Zuma as president within weeks. Zuma survived calls within the party this year for his exit over graft allegations by exerting an iron grip on top ANC decision-making bodies. His second and last term as the country’s president ends in 2019. The South African rand surged against the US dollar on the announcement of Ramaphosa’s victory. It had risen during Monday trading in anticipation of a loss for Dlamini-Zuma, who had promised populist policies to accelerate black ownership in the economy.
But, in a sign of the sharp divisions that Ramaphosa is inheriting as ANC leader, close allies of Zuma were elected as deputy president and secretary-general of the party in a voting process by delegates that was marred by allegations of vote-rigging and bribery. Ramaphosa, a former union leader who used his ANC ties to become one of South Africa’s richest black businessmen in the post-apartheid period, was seen as the candidate most able to unite business and the government to reignite the economy, which has ground to a halt under Zuma.
During his campaign, Ramaphosa made thinly veiled attacks on Zuma’s relationship with the Gupta family, who are accused of using their friendship with the president to influence cabinet appointments and state business. He promised to root out corrupt ANC officials.
Ramaphosa will now lead the ANC to the polls in 2019 with the task of reviving support among the country’s black majority, who have grown alienated by Zuma’s scandals and the claims of corruption at the heart of his presidency.
