South African president wins five-year term and will lead it to 2024 elections
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has been re-elected as leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) for a five-year term in a leadership race.
Votes cast through delegates at the convention gave Ramaphosa a clear victory over his rival, Zweli Mkhize, the former treasurer and U. S. fitness minister.
“Ramaphosa snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. . . He almost resigned just a few weeks ago, but emerged more powerful and powerful. This is a remarkable change,” said Richard Calland, a professor at the University of Cape Town. .
Both ANC leadership hopefuls have had to fight corruption allegations, reinforcing the widespread belief that the ANC is riddled with bribes.
Mkhize was granted a special leave last year following allegations that the budget meant to combat the covid-19 pandemic was embezzled for his non-public benefit. He denied wrongdoing.
Ramaphosa’s crusade cut through the “farmgate” scandal that erupted in June and involved between $580 billion and $5 million in foreign currency discovered hidden on his personal hunting farm.
The 70-year-old centrist has avoided impeachment after a parliamentary vote but remains accused of having undeclared foreign currency, tax evasion and embezzlement of state resources.
After telling his advisers he would resign after a damning parliamentary inquiry report was published this month, Ramaphosa filed a lawsuit to challenge the allegations, which he denies.
His re-election as leader will reassure many moderate voters in South Africa, as well as investors. The country is grappling with a faltering economy weakened by high unemployment and months of national power cuts.
As a component of South Africa’s political system, Ramaphosa will now lead the ANC in the 2024 general election. Although the component is expected to lose its long-standing majority, Ramaphosa will most likely remain president in any coalition government.
Voting continues to fill all 80 seats on the ANC’s national executive committee, but a transparent majority of the party’s most sensible seats are now filled by Ramaphosa loyalists.
Ramaphosa has worked to reform the ANC and purge corrupt networks that had been built in in the decade before he took power. He has had dubious successes and his supporters hope he is now better positioned to act against his conflicting parties within the party.
Thuli Madonsela, a highly reputable former head of South Africa’s public criteria watchdog, offered his congratulations. “Blessings as you and your team take on the Herculean task ahead,” he tweeted.
The ANC conference, held in Soweto, near Johannesburg, showed the magnitude of the demanding situations Ramaphosa faces, as well as its resilience.
“There are multiple points of crisis, adding up to a very disproportionate crisis of power. He will have to turn this victory into action within the government. There will have to be a change of wardrobe in the new year and a more decisive technique in the face of the government’s strategic dilemmas. Calland said.
The party has been in existence for 28 years, but has lost in the villages in recent years, with its vote share of around 50% maintained only thanks to poorer rural communities where the party’s patronage politics logo works best.
Support for former President Jacob Zuma, ousted amid corruption scandals in 2018, remains strong in some provinces and institutions.
Ramaphosa has tried to maintain ANC unity, but some analysts point to the party’s dominance as the main impediment to the country’s development.
“The challenge is the ANC, not the country,” Asanda Ngoasheng, an independent political analyst, said this month. “South Africa has a good chance of opposing the downward spiral. . . But there is a threat that other people will leave a country that wants smart leadership. “