Ramaphosa revives youth hopes in Soweto

Cyril Ramaphosa’s victory in the ANC leadership battle has sparked renewed hope among many in South Africa’s Soweto township where he grew up — and where frustration with the party has been mounting. “He is a model because he is one person that came out of the township and became a great businessman in this world,” said 21-year-old journalism student Charlie Khoza from the Tshawelo district of Soweto.

He was among a group of six young men standing on a street corner bathed in sunlight, drinking canned sodas the day after Ramaphosa’s decisive victory in the tight leadership race.

Their optimism for the probable future president and former trade unionist turned businessman was widely shared.

In the less well-off Chiawele district of Soweto, just streets away from where Ramaphosa was born 65 years ago, Niseman Baleyi, 39, was cutting hair to the rhythm of traditional music.

A father of two and a barber for 20 years, Niseman is increasingly struggling to make ends meet.

But he is optimistic that the election of a multimillionaire to lead the African National Congress will mean an economic renaissance for South Africa where more than a quarter of people are jobless.

As well as soaring unemployment, Africa’s most industrialised economy has suffered as big companies deterred by political uncertainty have opted to swell their cash reserves rather than investing in expansion or job creation.

“People are going to look at South Africa in a different way and are going to come to create jobs for the youth,” said Khoza.

Many in Soweto are already speaking about Ramaphosa as if he were already head of state — although Zuma will remain national president until 2019 when Ramaphosa will run for office in nationwide elections.

To have a chance of keeping the ANC in power, Ramaphosa will have a serious task of persuading the many South Africans who feel let down by the storied anti-apartheid party.

“It’s been over 20 years and we have had a lot of promises — and they are not meeting them,” said Mzandile Msingo, 34, a mechanic by training but unemployed for three years.

Among the pledges the ruling party has struggled to deliver are free university tuition, quality housing, jobs and the redistribution of wealth to the black majority.

The ANC, in power since the end of apartheid, has seen its influence dwindle as the economy has shrunk.

But Msingo and many others like him in Soweto are adamant that Ramaphosa’s election spells the end of Zuma’s controversial era.

His time in office has been marked by corruption scandals, abuse of power and repeated censure by South Africa’s institutions, including courts, media and graft watchdog.

Msingo said he would no longer support the ANC because of the corruption allegations swirling around Zuma who became party leader in 2007 and president in 2009.

“Zuma is doing his own thing instead of doing it for the country... (like) using government money to build his own house,” he said.

“With Ramaphosa we are going to wait and see and maybe we are going to see something else from the ANC.”

His Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party continues to make electoral gains and has convinced many township youth that nationalising the mines and redistributing land will lift them out of poverty.

Ricky Makoala, an unemployed 27-year-old, has been an EFF backer for two years and rules out any return to the ANC fold — even under Ramaphosa’s leadership.

“He is more white monopoly capital than anybody else,” he said, repeating a common belief that much of the country’s economy is still controlled by a small handful of white-owned businesses.