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 his most influential rival. Ace Magashule, who was suspended over corruption charges, responded by saying he would not budge as secretary-general and was instead invoking his own powers to suspend Ramaphosa as leader of the African National Congress. The party’s move against Magashule, 61, is seen as the biggest political win for the president in a fight against corruption that has yielded scant results. Magashule was told that it would be ‘‘in the best interest of the organisation’’ to step aside after being charged.