Page 8 The Skanner February 21, 2018
News
South African Limbo Ends With New President, Cyril Ramaphosa
Ramaphosa was a lead negotiator in the transition from apartheid to democracy in the 1990s
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Cyr-
il Ramaphosa became South Africa’s
president with a message of clean gov-
ernment and inclusiveness on Thurs-
day, stirring the hopes of many South
Africans that he can reverse a corro-
sive period of decline and division un-
der his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.
Ramaphosa, a lead negotiator in the
transition from apartheid to democra-
cy in the early 1990s, was elected by ju-
bilant ruling party legislators anxious
to shed political limbo and get the lead-
ership of the country back on track. In
an indication of the challenges facing
Ramaphosa, the two main opposition
parties did not participate in the Na-
tional Assembly vote, arguing it was a
sham process because the ruling Afri-
can National Congress party was taint-
ed by its association with corruption
scandals during the Zuma era.
Even so, the 65-year-old Ramapho-
sa delivered a measured, conciliatory
speech to lawmakers in a chamber that
had been the scene of heckling and
sometimes scuffles during appearanc-
es by Zuma, who resigned late Wednes-
day after protracted discussions with
ANC leaders who told him to step down
or face a parliamentary motion of no
confidence.
“I will try very hard not to disappoint
the people of South Africa,” Ramaphosa
said soon after he was nominated as an
MIKE HUTCHINGS / POOL VIA AP
By Nqobile Ntshangase and
Christopher Torchia
Associated Press
said: “I’m trying to
adapt to the environ-
ment. I’m not used
to it. In a court of
law, no singing is al-
lowed.”
While Ramaphosa
has consolidated his
control of the ANC
in recent weeks, he
still faces the deli-
cate task of remov-
ing
compromised
figures
from the old
Cyril Ramaphosa is sworn in as South African President by Chief Justice
administration
as
Mogoeng Mogoeng, left, in Cape Town, South Africa Thursday Feb. 15, 2018.
part
of
his
anti-cor-
Ramaphosa on Thursday was elected unopposed as South Africa’s new
president by ruling party legislators after the Wednesday resignation of ruption drive while
trying to avoid alien-
Jacob Zuma.
ating ruling party
factions that could
unopposed presidential candidate and
try to undercut him. He must also re-
elected by his party. He said the issue of
store the reputation of the ANC, which
corruption and mismanagement is on
fought apartheid and has been in pow-
“our radar screen” and that one of his
er since Nelson Mandela was elected
first aims is to meet rival party leaders
South Africa’s first black president in
so that “we can try and find a way of
the first all-race elections in 1994.
working together.”
The party’s popularity fell as anger
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng pre-
over corruption allegations grew and it
sided over the parliamentary election
suffered its worst showing at the polls
as well as a separate swearing-in cer-
in municipal elections in 2016. Investor
emony for Ramaphosa, who had been
jitters over the political situation con-
Zuma’s deputy and in December was
tributed to sluggish economic growth,
narrowly elected leader of the ruling
compounding generational problems
party over Zuma’s ex-wife, Nkosazana
of poverty and economic inequity that
Dlamini-Zuma.
will put early pressure on Ramaphosa’s
Noting the celebrations by the ruling
administration.
party legislators after days of national
Still, the South African rand
anxiety over whether or when Zuma
strengthened Thursday to its highest
would resign, the robed chief justice
level against the dollar in several years
amid a sense that the new president
represents stability and transparency
lacking under his predecessor.
The foundation of Mandela, who died
in 2013, said the state must now act
against “networks of criminality” that
have hurt the country’s democracy.
As the country marks the centenary
of Mandela’s 1918 birth, “there is a need
to reckon with the failures of the dem-
ocratic era,” the foundation said. “We
believe that we are at a critical moment
in our history, one which offers us the
unique opportunity to reflect, to re-
build, and to transform.”
The country’s main opposition par-
ty, the Democratic Alliance, will work
with Ramaphosa if he acts in the inter-
ests of the South African people, said
party leader Mmusi Maimane.
“We will hold you accountable and I
will see you in 2019 on the ballot box,”
Maimane said. While Ramaphosa wel-
comed Maimane’s offer of cooperation,
he described the election warning as
“grandstanding.”
Members of a smaller opposition
party, the Economic Freedom Fight-
ers, walked out of the chamber before
Ramaphosa’s election, saying it was il-
legitimate because South Africa’s top
court had ruled that lawmakers failed
to hold Zuma to account in a scandal
over state-funded upgrades to his pri-
vate home.
The ruling party is “incapable of
fighting corruption and maladminis-
tration from within its own ranks,” said
opposition leader Julius Malema.