South Africa: Ramaphosa Re-elected Leader of Ruling ANC Party

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Facts

  • South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) announced on Monday that the country's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has been re-elected leader of the party following the ANC National Elective Conference, which began on Friday.
  • He garnered 2,476 votes of the 4,384 cast at the conference to beat his former health minister, and rival for the position, Zweli Mkhize. The result means that Ramaphosa — who also won four out of the other six positions in the party's leadership team — will guide the ANC for the next five years.
  • The victory also makes Ramaphosa the front-runner to secure a second term in office ahead of the 2024 presidential elections. The chosen leaders of the ANC have been elected president in all South African elections since 1994.
  • Ramaphosa's path to re-election was not without problems, as he struggled with internal divisions in the ANC during his campaign. He also came close to resigning this month, following a panel report to South Africa's parliament that accused him of serious misconduct over the 2020 Phala Phala robbery.
  • Ramaphosa — along with the newly elected ANC leadership — has many challenges to address, as the country is experiencing reports of widespread corruption, power cuts of more than seven hours a day, and an unemployment rate of 35 percent.
  • Though the ANC is expected to lose its long-established majority in the 2024 general elections, due to its recent loss of support in towns and cities, Ramaphosa is likely to remain president in any coalition government.

Sources: CNN, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Al Jazeera, and Guardian.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Business Live. The ANC has shown its steadfast support for Ramaphosa, giving him a bigger win than he achieved in 2017 despite the recent scandal at his game farm. He must now avoid focusing too much on problems within his party, and instead start to govern on behalf of the entire nation amid this severe energy crisis.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Mail & Guardian. Ramaphosa has won the presidency of the ANC, but he won't necessarily be able to resolve internal party divisions or put forward his renewal project for the party. The political culture of the organization is toxic, and conflicts between his faction and that of the Radical Economic Transformation group have only deepened during the conference. These political circumstances will act as an unyielding barrier to effective leadership and governance.