Cyril has his work cut out for him

THERE appeared to be tears in the eyes of Cyril Ramaphosa last night as he was announced as president of the ANC. The process had been delayed for more than two hours by re-counts. The stress had been unbearable for the country watching – we can only begin to hazard a guess at the toll it took on the man who will become the country’s next president if the ANC wins the 2019 general election.

He won a hard-fought battle, one that was characterised by the viciousness of the dark arts of electoral dirty tricks, character assassination and downright fake news.

In the end, the margins between the candidates were small; in fact, in the case of the secretarygeneral position, Ace Magashule, with 2 360 votes, took the position against Senzo Mchunu’s 2 336 with a margin of only 24 votes.

In the end, Ramaphosa was gifted an executive leadership which was equally matched between those who had supported him, two who had backed his failed rival Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and one, David Mabuza, the kingmaker from Mpumalanga, as his deputy.

The election of the balance of the 86-seat national executive council was fascinating too.

Already Ramaphosa has his work cut out for him.

His predecessor Jacob Zuma had worked tirelessly for a “unity” slate, out of fear that the party would split, given the gulf between the two factions – and perhaps more than a modicum of self-interest, given the legal Everest that awaits him.

The top six elected last night is a unity slate in everything but name.

It emerges out of fierce contestation and very small majorities – showing that the one faction cannot exist without the other.

The reality is that the two groups are fundamentally different.

This is both in terms of their broader political philosophy and how they envisage the direction in which the party has to move to remain relevant and indeed flourish in an increasingly fractious political space.

Ramaphosa won a position last night that many would have believed had been denied him in 1994. That was when Nelson Mandela chose Thabo Mbeki – who went on to become president in 1999.

Ramaphosa will have an uphill battle to ensure he becomes president of South Africa in 2019.