Ramaphosa's presidential ambitions buoyed
Cyril Ramaphosa's campaign to become South Africa's next president has gone into overdrive.
After months of playing coy about his aspirations to become the next leader of the ruling African National Congress, the deputy president has started crisscrossing the country speaking out against corruption. He's picked up endorsements from labour unions, church leaders and some of the ANC's most respected leaders, including former president Kgalema Motlanthe and ex-finance minister Pravin Gordhan.
Ramaphosa's biggest electoral asset may be his boss, the increasingly unpopular President Jacob Zuma, who's indicated that he wants to be succeeded by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, his ex-wife and former head of the African Union Commission. While Dlamini-Zuma, 68, initially appeared to be the front-runner in the race, the balance of power seemed to have shifted on May 1 when persistent booing forced Zuma to cancel an address at a union rally in the central Free State province, one of his traditional strongholds.
“People are fed up, they are quite unhappy with the Zuma leadership and the idea that Nkosazana might be his proxy,” said Mcebisi Ndletyana, an associate professor of political science at the University of Johannesburg. “Ramaphosa is benefiting from that disillusionment.”
Under Zuma's leadership, Africa's most-industrialized economy has stagnated and the unemployment rate has reached a 13-year high. Opposition to Zuma's rule has been fuelled by a series of scandals, including a finding by South Africa's top court that he violated his oath of office when he ignored a graft ombudsman's directive to repay taxpayer funds spent on his private home. Yet, the fact that Ramaphosa showed he was prepared to stand up to Zuma over Gordhan's dismissal has boosted his stature, said Anthony Butler, a political science professor at the University of Cape Town and author of a biography about Ramaphosa.
A lawyer who co-founded the National Union of Mineworkers, Ramaphosa, 64, helped negotiate a peaceful end to apartheid and draft South Africa's first democratic constitution. He lost out to Thabo Mbeki in the contest to succeed Nelson Mandela as president in 1999 and went into business, amassing a fortune before returning to full-time politics in 2012 as the ANC's deputy leader.
His image was tarnished when police shot dead 34 protesters at Lonmin Plc's Marikana platinum mine in 2012, following days of violent strike action. In an email written days before the shooting, Ramaphosa described the violence at the mine, which was part-owned by a company he founded, as “dastardly criminal” and urged police to take “concomitant action.” A commission of inquiry cleared Ramaphosa of wrongdoing.
In an address to students in the southern town of Grahamstown on Sunday, Ramaphosa said his language in the email was inappropriate and that he'd sought to prevent violence rather than provoke it, News24 reported.
Ramaphosa needs to continue riding the wave of popular disapproval of Zuma's leadership, according to Ndletyana.
“Yearning for an alternative leadership is likely to grow,” Ndletyana said. “Zuma is not done yet with his scandals. He is a gift that keeps on giving.”
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After months of playing coy about his aspirations to become the next leader of the ruling African National Congress, the deputy president has started crisscrossing the country speaking out against corruption. He's picked up endorsements from labour unions, church leaders and some of the ANC's most respected leaders, including former president Kgalema Motlanthe and ex-finance minister Pravin Gordhan.
Ramaphosa's biggest electoral asset may be his boss, the increasingly unpopular President Jacob Zuma, who's indicated that he wants to be succeeded by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, his ex-wife and former head of the African Union Commission. While Dlamini-Zuma, 68, initially appeared to be the front-runner in the race, the balance of power seemed to have shifted on May 1 when persistent booing forced Zuma to cancel an address at a union rally in the central Free State province, one of his traditional strongholds.
“People are fed up, they are quite unhappy with the Zuma leadership and the idea that Nkosazana might be his proxy,” said Mcebisi Ndletyana, an associate professor of political science at the University of Johannesburg. “Ramaphosa is benefiting from that disillusionment.”
Under Zuma's leadership, Africa's most-industrialized economy has stagnated and the unemployment rate has reached a 13-year high. Opposition to Zuma's rule has been fuelled by a series of scandals, including a finding by South Africa's top court that he violated his oath of office when he ignored a graft ombudsman's directive to repay taxpayer funds spent on his private home. Yet, the fact that Ramaphosa showed he was prepared to stand up to Zuma over Gordhan's dismissal has boosted his stature, said Anthony Butler, a political science professor at the University of Cape Town and author of a biography about Ramaphosa.
A lawyer who co-founded the National Union of Mineworkers, Ramaphosa, 64, helped negotiate a peaceful end to apartheid and draft South Africa's first democratic constitution. He lost out to Thabo Mbeki in the contest to succeed Nelson Mandela as president in 1999 and went into business, amassing a fortune before returning to full-time politics in 2012 as the ANC's deputy leader.
His image was tarnished when police shot dead 34 protesters at Lonmin Plc's Marikana platinum mine in 2012, following days of violent strike action. In an email written days before the shooting, Ramaphosa described the violence at the mine, which was part-owned by a company he founded, as “dastardly criminal” and urged police to take “concomitant action.” A commission of inquiry cleared Ramaphosa of wrongdoing.
In an address to students in the southern town of Grahamstown on Sunday, Ramaphosa said his language in the email was inappropriate and that he'd sought to prevent violence rather than provoke it, News24 reported.
Ramaphosa needs to continue riding the wave of popular disapproval of Zuma's leadership, according to Ndletyana.
“Yearning for an alternative leadership is likely to grow,” Ndletyana said. “Zuma is not done yet with his scandals. He is a gift that keeps on giving.”
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