South African President, Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa has been elected as President of the country after election results were announced.
Ramaphosa replaced Jacob Zuma as President when the latter resigned in 2018.
He has since brought back reforms to the political setting of the country, despite the populace’s declined trust in the African National Congress (ANC).
”Thank you, South Africa, for reaffirming the vibrancy of our democracy and making the 2019 national and provincial elections a resounding success for our nation. Let freedom reign, and let the sun never set on so glorious a human achievement,” Ramaphosa wrote on Twitter.
Cyril Ramaphosa
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@CyrilRamaphosa#SAElections2019 Thank you, South Africa, for reaffirming the vibrancy of our democracy and making the 2019 national and provincial elections a resounding success for our nation. Let freedom reign, and let the sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.
Africa’s oldest liberation movement won 55.5% of the parliamentary vote, according to provisional results from 99.9% of polling districts. That was its worst parliamentary result since it swept to power at the end of white minority rule but an improvement on its showing in 2016 local elections.
About Cyril Ramaphosa
Ramaphosa, 66 previously worked closely with South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela to end white minority rule in 1994. He replaced Jacob Zuma as head of state in February 2018 after winning a bitter contest to become ANC leader and convincing top party officials to instruct Zuma to resign.
Ramaphosa is set to start his first full presidential term later this month, after nomination by his party’s parliamentary caucus and an inauguration ceremony.
“We’ve made mistakes, but we are sorry about those mistakes, and we are saying our people should reinvest their confidence in us,” Ramaphosa said on Wednesday after casting his ballot in the Soweto township where he grew up.
During the campaign he had crisscrossed the country, trying to convince disillusioned voters to give the ANC another chance. There are frustrations that huge racial disparities in income and wealth persist 25 years after the nation ended its apartheid.
In the course of Zuma’s nine years as president, support for the ANC dropped as economic growth faltered and the party’s reputation was tarnished by corruption scandals.
Ramaphosa’s allies say his efforts to clean up the ANC’s image are starting to bear fruit.
“Ramaphosa was a game-changer for the ANC in this campaign. Voters trust that he can do things right,” said ANC executive member Fikile Mbalula.
Analysts have said that the election result means Ramaphosa will now be able to fend off a potential leadership challenge from party enemies aligned with his predecessor.
At a campaign event in Johannesburg, Ramaphosa promised a “step-change” in the pace of reform after the election.
But analysts and some ANC party sources are sceptical. “There will still be a significant fightback from the Zuma faction which will restrain Ramaphosa,” said Darias Jonker, director for Africa at Eurasia Group, a New York-based political risk consultancy.
South Africans look forward to Ramaphosa as he battles to grow the nation’s economy through good policies, coupled with fight against entrenched corruption in the system. (Aledeh)