President’s rival suspended in power struggle

Festering power struggles in South Africa’s ruling party erupted yesterday when President Cyril Ramaphosa was publicly challenged by hismost influential rival. Ace Magashule, whowas suspended over corruption charges, responded by saying he would not budge as secretary-general andwas instead invoking his own powers to suspend Ramaphosa as leader of the African National Congress. The party’smove against Magashule, 61, is seen as the biggest political win for the president in a fight against corruption that has yielded scant results. Magashulewas told that it would be ‘‘in the best interest of the organisation’’ to step aside after being charged.