Ramaphosa’s appointment will please business, markets, investors

Jacob Zuma’s resignation as president of South Africa ends a nine-year rule seen by many as the most troubled period for the ‘rainbow nation’ since the end of the apartheid regime 24 years ago.

Cyril Ramaphosa, the deputy president and the standard bearer of the reformist wing of the ANC, will now take power as interim president pending election by parliamentary vote.

The news will please the business community, markets and international investors. Millions of South Africans from all communities who were concerned about the long-term consequences of Zuma’s rule for a country struggling to overcome many of the most damaging legacies of its troubled history will also be relieved. Some are already talking about a “Cyril Spring”.

“He’s a good man. He [Ramaphosa] has the country’s interests in his heart, not his own or some family’s,” said Gwede Dube, a 39-yearold carpenter.

Ramaphosa, 68, a former union leader and multimillionaire businessman, won the leadership of ANC in a hotly contested internal election in December and will lead the party into general elections next year.

Zuma had led the ANC since 2007 and was South Africa’s president since 2009. His tenure in both posts was controversial.

Many ANC loyalists accuse him of having undermined the image and legitimacy of the 105-year-old party that led South Africans to freedom in 1994 and has ruled since.

Others on the left of the party say Zuma was a radical reformer who tried to help South Africa’s poorest but fell victim to the “forces of capitalism”.

The ANC still dominates the country’s political landscape but its popularity has been dented by a failure to transform the lives of the country’s poor. The party lost control of several cities in municipal elections in 2016 and, even with Ramaphosa in power, may be forced into a coalition after the 2019 vote.

It is unclear if Zuma, who was born in a remote village and grew up in poverty in what is today South Africa’s south-eastern KwaZuluNatal province, negotiated any deal to protect himself from prosecution on corruption charges.

The highest-profile controversies have involved Zuma’s relations with the Guptas, one of South Africa’s wealthiest business families. Zuma has been accused of allowing the Guptas to benefit from lucrative government contracts and influence top official appointments. Critics allege Zuma presided over a vast patronage system irrigated by public funds. He denies any wrongdoing.