Despite allegations of corruption, the 70-year-old paved the way for a second term as president.
South Africa’s ruling ANC party has paved the way for its leader Cyril Ramaphosa to run for a second term as the country’s president, despite allegations of corruption. In an internal party leadership poll on Monday, Ramaphosa won by a wide margin of 2,476 votes to 1,897 for his opponent Zweli Mkhize.
As party leader, Ramaphosa, 70, could also serve a second term as president if the ANC wins the 2024 election, as expected. Ramaphosa recently escaped impeachment for alleged corruption. Most ANC deputies prevented this. After 28 years in power, the ANC recently lost votes. However, with 230 out of 400 seats in the National Assembly, it remains South Africa’s largest party. Former ANC treasurer Paul Mashatile was elected as the party’s deputy.
Ramaphosa has faced allegations of corruption and fraud since the release of an investigative report into an alleged theft on his farm. The president has always denied the allegations.
Serious allegations from a former secret service chief
A former intelligence chief accused Ramaphosa in June of hiding $4 million in cash in his luxurious mansion. After a robbery on his farm, Ramaphosa would have organized the kidnapping and bribery of the thieves so that it would remain a secret that he had kept so much money there.
Ramaphosa, on the other hand, said that the equivalent of €560,000 was stolen, which was hidden under sofa cushions. This amount was paid to him by a Sudanese man who bought buffaloes from his farm. He did not see any misconduct of his own as noted in the parliamentary commission of inquiry.
Ramaphosa’s only competitor in the ANC Congress for the party leadership election was former health minister Mkhize, who is embroiled in a corruption scandal. More than 4,300 delegates attend the five-day party conference near Johannesburg.
At the start of Friday’s convention, ANC members loudly interrupted Ramaphosa’s opening speech, banging tables and demanding a change. Uncertainty over Ramaphosa’s re-election loomed in the long hours leading up to Sunday’s vote. His previously comfortable lead over Mkhize appeared to be diminishing. In the end, however, the President prevailed and will now lead the ANC for another five years.
The ANC is famous worldwide for its decades-long struggle against apartheid, led by Nelson Mandela. The 110-year-old party has ruled South Africa since democratization in the 1990s. But the party has been hit hard by bribery, favoritism, infighting and a frozen economy. A report released at the party conference shows that the ANC has lost a third of its party membership in the past five years.
(APA/AFP)