Ramaphosa sworn in as South Africa’s new president

I will try to work very hard not to disappoint the people, he says and vows to tackle state corruption

Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday was sworn in as South Africa’s new president after the resignation of Jacob Zuma, whose scandals brought the storied African National Congress to its weakest point since taking power at the end of apartheid.

“I will try very hard not to disappoint the people of South Africa,” Ramaphosa said in ending his speech to parliament shortly after ruling party lawmakers elected him.

“Issues to do with corruption, issues of how we can straighten out our state-owned enterprises and how we deal with ‘state capture’ are issues that are on our radar screen,” Ramaphosa said. “State capture” refers to the alleged corruption of government institutions and stateowned businesses by Zuma’s associates.

“Tomorrow we will also have an opportunity to outline some of the steps we are going to be taking,” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa was the only candidate nominated for election after two opposition parties said they would not participate. The two parties instead unsuccessfully called for the dissolution of the National Assembly and early elections.

Zuma resigned after years of scandals that damaged the reputation of the ruling ANC, which had instructed him this week to step down or face a parliamentary motion of no confidence that he would almost certainly lose. His resignation was met with jubilation across South Africa by business, civil society organisations and the citizenry, all of whom had united in their efforts to remove him from office.