JOHANNESBURG –
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) Party on Monday, overcoming a cash-hiding scandal on his private farm and paving the way for him to run for office. second term in 2024.
While markets welcomed the news as a sign of continuity in economic policy, Ramaphosa now faces the task of rebuilding support for the corruptly tainted ANC amid cutting-edge cuts. Electricity crippled business and exacerbated rampant unemployment.
Ramaphosa’s political future was suspended earlier this month after a panel of experts issued a report that said preliminary evidence suggested he may have violated the constitution over a hidden foreign currency hoard. in the furniture at his game farm.
He has denied any wrongdoing in the scandal, dubbed “Farmgate” by the media and challenged to report it in court. He has not been charged, but some opponents have called for him to step down.
At a gathering in Johannesburg, Ramaphosa defeated former health minister Zweli Mkhize by around 57% to 43% in a vote to secure a second five-year term as leader. FACILITATE. Many of his allies also occupy the top seats in the party leadership.
Africa’s most industrialized nation holds the next general election in 2024. In the 2021 municipal elections, the ANC won less than 50% of the vote for the first time since taking power at the end of the year. white minority rule in 1994.
Ramaphosa’s announcement of victory on Monday was greeted with raucous cheers in the halls from his supporters wearing ANC-branded tracksuits, T-shirts, cap and jackets with the party colors black, green and yellow.
Ramaphosa and Mkhize shook hands on stage after the results were announced, as delegates sang, danced and whistled to celebrate the results.
Mkhize was health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic, until Ramaphosa gave him special leave last year following allegations that his department awarded an unusual contract to a media company run by former associates. his control.
Mkhize has denied wrongdoing on the contracts.
In other votes, ANC president Gwede Mantashe kept his post while Fikile Mbalula was elected secretary general, the official in charge of the party’s day-to-day operations.
The ANC’s “top 7 officials” group now favors Ramaphosa more loyally than the group that emerged from the 2017 conference, where Ramaphosa won the top job for the first time.
Ramaphosa’s only public opponent in the Top 7 is first deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane. But her influence will be limited as the secretary general and second deputy secretary general are supporters of Ramaphosa.
“The outcome of the 2022 conference broke the political deadlock that arose during the 2017 conference and signaled internal opposition to … the agenda that President Cyril Ramaphosa has been advocating for. ,” said Ongama Mtimka, lecturer and political analyst. University of Nelson Mandela.
Daniel Silke, director of Political Futures Consulting, said on Twitter that the result marks the continuity of the ANC “but old problems will make the organization worse and any renewal remains an illusion without best practice policy and governance.”
CONTINUE ECONOMY
The ANC has won a majority of seats in every general election since multiracial elections began in 1994, but support for the party is dwindling. Ramaphosa’s supporters see him as the best candidate to block the party’s election.
“I’m very happy,” said Chana Pilane-Majake, a delegate from Gauteng province, home to Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria, stopping after the chorus of singing and clapping after Ramaphosa was declared the winner.
“We admit that it hasn’t been perfect in the last five years… That’s why (he) needs a second term: to finish what was started.”
Siphiwe Mazibuko, a delegate from KwaZulu-Natal province (KZN), home to many of Ramaphosa’s rivals and home to former president Jacob Zuma, called for party unity after the vote.
“Zweli Mkhize is my favorite,” says Mazibuko. “But we accept the result. Now the party needs to unite.”
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told reporters that Ramaphosa’s re-election points to continuity in economic policy.
Cristian Maggio, head of portfolio strategy at TD Securities in London, agrees, saying that “this is positive from a market point of view as it protects (the status quo) against the negatives of the market. a potentially more populist policy that cost Ramaphosa.”
(Additional reporting by Nqobile Dludla in Johannesburg, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Writing by James Macharia Chege; Editing by Toby Chopra and Hugh Lawson)
