Ramaphosa, Semenya make Time’s 100 most influential people list
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world along with Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya.
The magazine said Ramaphosa has perfected the art of patience, having honed his political skills helping his country navigate its way out of apartheid. “Then, when he was sidelined for the presidency in the 1990s, he harnessed his cunning and gregariousness to make a vast fortune in business, while his rivals sank the country into dysfunction and cronyism,” writes award-winning foreign correspondent Vivienne Walt.
Although the magazine states that Ramaphosa has the chance to end corruption and grow the stalled economy, it warns that load shedding, poverty and unemployment have left millions desperate for quick results, and that infighting in the ANC has left him vulnerable to a coup.
Other leaders on the list include China’s Xi Jinping and Brazil’s newly-elected right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, Pope Francis, US President Donald Trump and Venezuela’s opposition party leader Juan Guaidó.
Semenya, who has a tough year ahead fighting the International Association of Athletics Federation’s proposed rules, is listed among figures like former US first lady Michelle Obama and Spike Lee, who is described as “a visionary, a trailblazer, a provocateur”.
The magazine states if successful, Semenya’s effort could open the door for all who identify as women to compete in track events without having to first medically lower their testosterone levels below a proposed limit.
“Ultimately, this incredibly difficult issue is a political one for sport to resolve. But, however it is addressed, Semenya will have already made a singular historical contribution to our understanding of biological sex,” writes Edwin Moses, a two-time Olympic gold medallist in track and field who helped develop the sport’s drug-testing programmes.