Cyril Ramaphosa seeks re-election as ruling party head

THE SOUTH AFRICAN

South Africa’s ruling ANC was due to elect a new leader this weekend after the country’s embattled president Cyril Ramaphosa pitched to steer the graft-tainted party for a second term.

Despite a damaging cash-heist scandal and vociferous internal opposition, Ramaphosa, 70, is tipped to win re-election as the head of the African National Congress (ANC) at a five-day party conference that kicked off on Friday.

After 28 years in power, the party shaped by Nelson Mandela to spearhead the struggle to end apartheid faces deep rifts and declining support.

Its image has been stained by corruption, cronyism, nepotism and a lacklustre economic record.

In a three-hour-long address on Friday, Ramaphosa sought to project confidence and authority, cautioning South Africans “expect us to have the courage and the honesty to recognise our shortcomings and the resolve to correct them”.

Almost three decades after the end of white-minority rule, unemployment and crime rates are sky high, poverty and inequality remain widespread, and power cuts have hit record levels amid a worsening energy crisis.

The conference was running well behind schedule on Saturday, after starting several hours late the day before.

But party officials said the party’s more than 4,000 delegates were still expected to vote for their new leader.

The delays caused some to grumble.

“It is extremely frustrating,” one delegate from the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province who preferred not to give his name.

On Friday, dozens of delegates — largely supporters of corruption-tainted former president Jacob Zuma who was forced out by Ramaphosa — heckled the current South African leader, chanting “Change! Change!” and banging on their tables.

Ramaphosa called for “discipline” and “political consciousness” urging attendees to debate issues instead of “shouting” and “howling at each other”.

RAMAPHOSA WILL ‘COME BACK’

Portraying himself as a graft-busting champion, Ramaphosa took control of the ANC in 2017 after his then boss Zuma became mired in corruption allegations.

But his clean-hands image has been dented by accusations he concealed a huge cash burglary at his farm in 2020, rather than report it to the authorities.

Ramaphosa won a reprieve ahead of the conference when the ANC used its majority in parliament to block a possible impeachment inquiry.

Despite calls from some in his party to step down over the scandal, he still leads the list of only two nominated presidential candidates so far.