Ramaphosa vows anti-corruption drive as he takes over in South Africa

Cyril Ramaphosa has taken over as president of South Africa , immediately vowing to fight corruption in a direct reference to accusations levelled against his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

Ramaphosa’s appointment as head of state came less than 16 hours after his rival Zuma resigned, having defiantly refused to leave office for days.

Within minutes of the result of a parliamentary vote being announced t in Cape Town, Ramaphosa said he would move to tackle endemic graft in South Africa.

“Issues to do with corruption, issues of how we can straighten out our state-owned enterprises and how we deal with ‘state capture’ are issues that are on our radar screen,” he said, in a reference to improper influence over government institutions, ministers and state-owned businesses by Zuma’s associates.

Wearing a dark suit and red tie, Ramaphosa, 65, sat quietly while lawmakers from the ruling African National Congress stood, clapped and sang in celebration. He was elected unopposed.

In a short speech, the former deputy president reached out to opposition parties, telling parliamentarians that “South Africa must come first in everything we do”.

“This is not yet uhuru (freedom). We have never said it is uhuru. We are going to seek to improve the lives of our people on an ongoing basis, and since 1994, we have done precisely that,” Ramaphosa said.

View image in fullscreen

The ANC has a substantial majority in parliament and the vote was effectively a formality. Although deeply divided, the party has already closed ranks after the crisis of recent days and rallied around Ramaphosa.

Party officials who nominated him described the president as “a revolutionary cadre who has served the people of South Africa all his life and will strength the unity of our country”.

Patrick Maesela, an ANC MP, said: “Africa and the world are pinning their hopes on your revolutionary leadership.”

The Economic Freedom Fighters, a radical leftwing opposition party, walked out of parliament, saying the assembly was illegitimate and new elections were necessary.

Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, offered congratulations and said his party would “cooperate” if the president “acts in the interests of the people of South Africa”. Maimane said the country did not have a “Jacob Zuma problem but ... an ANC problem”.

Profile

Who is Cyril Ramaphosa?

Show

Early life

Ramaphosa was born in Soweto, a township near Johannesburg and the centre of the anti-apartheid struggle, in 1952. He became involved in activism to end the apartheid system while studying at university and was arrested in 1974, spending 11 months in solitary confinement. 

End of apartheid

After graduating, he co-founded the National Union of Mineworkers, which is now one of the biggest and most powerful trade unions in South Africa. Ramaphosa was a key part of a taskforce that led South Africa's transition to democracy and is credited with being a skilled negotiator. Despite Nelson Mandela describing him as one of the most gifted leaders of the "new generation", Ramaphosa failed to get the ANC nomination to succeed Mandela as president in 1999. 

Buinessman

After that blow, Ramaphosa swapped politics for a lucrative foray into business, using his union connections and becoming one of the richest men in the country. His popularity took a knock in 2012 when police shot dead 34 striking workers at a mine operated by London-listed Lonmin. At the time of the killings, Ramaphosa was on the board of directors and had called for a crackdown on the strikers, whom he accused of "dastardly criminal" behaviour.  

Return to politics

In 2012 Ramaphosa returned to politics and two years later he became South Africa's deputy president. Despite being part of Zuma's administration, he is seen as a reformer who will steer the country away from the corruption scandals that have hurt the economy.

Photograph: Cornell Tukiri/EPA

Ramaphosa, a former anti-apartheid activist turned successful businessman, is the standard bearer for the moderate, reformist faction of the ANC. Zuma, 75, represented the party’s more populist, nationalist elements, commentators said.

The latter’s resignation put an end to an intense political crisis that threatened to inflict significant damage on the ANC, which has ruled South Africa since the country’s first free elections in 1994.

In a televised address to the nation late on Wednesday, Zuma said he was a disciplined member of the party, to which he had dedicated his life.

3:04

“I fear no motion of no confidence or impeachment,” he said. “I will continue to serve the people of South Africa and the ANC. I will dedicate my life to continuing to work for the execution of the policies of our organisation.

“The ANC should never be divided in my name. I have therefore come to the decision to resign as president of the republic with immediate effect.”

The announcement ended an extraordinary day in South African politics, which begun with a dawn raid on the home of the Guptas, a business family at the centre of recent corruption allegations levelled at Zuma.

Ajay Gupta, one of the three Gupta brothers accused of having improper links to Zuma, was declared a fugitive from justice on Thursday after failing to hand himself in to police.

Zuma, who has led the ANC since 2007 and been South Africa’s president since 2009, was due to leave power next year. His tenure was marred by economic decline and multiple charges of graft, undermining the image and legitimacy of the party that led the struggle against apartheid.

View image in fullscreen

The crisis of recent days has further damaged the ANC, as well as angering many South Africans, who are becoming increasingly impatient with the party’s opaque internal procedures.

In December, Ramaphosa won a bitterly fought ANC leadership election. Party strategists wanted Zuma to be sidelined as quickly as possible, to allow the ANC to regroup before campaigning starts for elections in 2019.

He will deliver the annual State of the Nation address on Friday. The speech was to have been given by Zuma a week ago but was postponed.

The party suffered significant setbacks in municipal polls in 2016 and could be forced into a coalition government at the national level, experts have said.

As president, Ramaphosa will have to balance the need to reassure foreign investors and local businesses with the intense popular demand for dramatic measures to address South Africa’s deep problems. The former trade union leader has said South Africa is coming out of a “period of uncertainty, a period of darkness, and getting into a new phase”.

Richard Calland, an expert in South African politics at the University of Cape Town, said Ramaphosa would have “the chance to rebuild government and the party at the same time”.

In recent days, the rand has strengthened and many analysts have revised upwards their predictions of South Africa’s economic growth.

After Zuma’s address, the ANC immediately closed ranks. Jessie Duarte, the party’s deputy secretary general, told reporters the ANC was “not celebrating” at a “very painful moment”.