Official: Transfer of power to be finalized

South Africa’s deputy president consolidated his control of the government on Sunday, promising to conclude a power transition in which he would succeed President Jacob Zuma, who faces widespread calls to resign because of corruption allegations.

Standing on the balcony of Cape Town’s pillared City Hall, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered what amounted to a state of the nation address of the kind that Zuma was unable to give as scheduled last week because of the leadership crisis in South Africa, which

has one of the continent’s biggest economies.

Ramaphosa, Zuma’s expected successor, set out a policy agenda for the year in his nationally televised speech, which marked the beginning of commemora

tions of the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth on July 18, 1918.

From wire reports