South Africa starts walk back to post-Zuma rehabilitation
RAMAPHOSA, ELECTED PRESIDENT IN A PARLIAMENTARY VOTE, HAS HIS WORK CUT OUT TO WIN BACK VOTERS
South Africans awoke to a nation without Jacob Zuma as president for the first time in nine years yesterday, after the scandal-plagued head of state reluctantly resigned on orders from the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
South Africa’s parliament elected Cyril Ramaphosa as the country’s new president yesterday, the ruling ANC party said, after Zuma resigned in a late-night television address.
Ramaphosa, 65, was elected unopposed as Zuma’s permanent successor by parliament, and sworn into the post by South African Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, who had earlier read out the former president’s resignation letter.
Zuma resigned on Wednesday as the ANC finally turned against him after a nine-year reign dominated by corruption scandals, economic slowdown and plummeting electoral popularity.
Zuma railed against the ANC for “recalling” him from office and — when he at first refused to resign — then threatening to oust him via a parliament noconfidence vote.
In an earlier TV interview on Wednesday, said he had received “very unfair” treatment from the party that he joined in 1959 and in which he had fought for decades against apartheid white-minority rule.
Zuma had been in a power struggle with Ramaphosa, his deputy president since 2014.
Zuma’s hold over the ANC was broken in December when his chosen successor — his former wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma — narrowly lost to Ramaphosa in a vote for the new party leader.
Long road back
The road back to prosperity and self-respect under Ramaphosa, who became ANC head in December, will be long and hard in a nation divided by race and inequality.
But Zuma’s departure offers evidence of the strength of South Africa’s institutions, from the courts to the media and the constitution.
The 75-year-old said in a 30-minute farewell address to the nation he disagreed with the way the ANC had pushed him towards an early exit after Ramaphosa replaced him as party president, but would accept its orders.
“Defiant in defeat” and “Going, Going, Gone” were some of the newspaper headlines that captured Zuma’s reluctance to leave.
“South Africa’s long nightmare is over,” read the headline of an analysis on online news site Daily Maverick.
The foundation set up to guard the legacy of the late anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela said yesterday Zuma’s resignation brought to an end “a painful era for the country.” The ANC hailed Zuma’s decision to resign.
Julius Malema, leader of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led his party in a mass walkout from parliament yesterday, saying it would not take part in the election of a new president so as not to legitimise an ANC candidate.
Ramaphosa’s first state of the nation address was expected to take place today.
The speech had been scheduled to be delivered by Zuma last Thursday, but was postponed after pressure mounted for him to resign.
Ramaphosa, who was elected ANC head in December and will be president until elections next year, has his work cut out to win back disaffected voters after a string of scandals and policy blunders under Zuma, as well as investor confidence.
But his stated commitment to boosting growth and stamping out graft has gone down well with foreign investors and ANC members who felt Zuma’s handling of the economy could seriously damage the party in the 2019 election.
The rand currency, which has gained ground whenever Zuma hit political turbulence, soared to a near three-year high against the dollar on Zuma’s resignation.
“It would be gratifying to see the dedication and purpose the ANC put into ridding itself of Zuma now be directed into rebuilding the economy, dealing with the corruption still residing in the ANC and improving its shoddy governance record,” NKC African Economics analysts wrote in a note.
Zuma’s resignation came just hours after police raided the luxury home of the Gupta family, Indian-born billionaire allies of the former president who have been at the centre of corruption allegations against Zuma and his circle for years.
Zuma and the Guptas have always denied wrongdoing.
Police said on Wednesday three people were arrested during the raids on various properties in Johannesburg.
State broadcaster SABC said a Gupta family member was among those detained, while a senior judicial source said police were expected to arrest up to seven more people and that Gupta family members would be among them.
Ramaphosa, 65, was elected unopposed as Zuma’s permanent successor by parliament, and sworn into the post by South African Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.