Cyril Ramaphosa has been elected President of the Republic of South Africa unopposed.

Ramaphosa’s election comes a day after Jacob Zuma tendered his resignation following pressure from his party, the African National Congress.

Ramaphosa’s candidacy was nominated by ANC backbencher Patrick Maesela and seconded by his colleague‚ Joan Fubbs.

None of the opposition parties nominated a presidential candidate.

Ramaphosa was congratulated by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng who presided over the election and was later on sworn in as the country’s President.

Ramaphosa will the deliver the state of the nation address scheduled to take place on Friday at 7pm.-Sowetan.co.za </s> Cyril Ramaphosa has been elected as president of South Africa, a day after Jacob Zuma resigned from office following allegations of corruption.

Mr. Ramaphosa’s is scheduled to give the state of the union address tomorrow. </s> ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa was elected President of South Africa unopposed in the National Assembly on Thursday afternoon (15/02/18).

Ramaphosa’s candidacy was nominated by ANC backbencher Patrick Maesela and seconded by his colleague‚ Joan Fubbs.

None of the opposition parties nominated a presidential candidate.

Ramaphosa was congratulated by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng who presided over the election.

His first state of the nation address is expected to take place on Friday.

Watch here – Cyril Ramaphosa elected as president of South Africa:

There were equal measures of congratulations and caution from opposition parties in reaction to Ramaphosa becoming the fifty democratically-elected president of South Africa.

After Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng declared Ramaphosa president‚ Speaker of the National Assembly‚ Baleka Mbete‚ gave opposition parties time to respond to the election of the new president.

Leader of the official opposition‚ Mmusi Maimane‚ congratulated Ramaphosa – but noted that the DA will raise concerns if he does not deliver to the people.

“If you act in the interest of the people of south Africa we will cooperate as best we can to assist in that mission‚” he said.

Maimane said the DA believed South Africa did not only have a Jacob Zuma problem‚ but an ANC problem.

The EFF’s Narend Singh said they realised that Ramaphosa did not have a magical wand to fix the problems facing the country‚ but urged him remove those involved in state capture from his cabinet.

“We trust that in the execution of your duties‚ you will do the right thing‚” Singh said.

The NFP’s Moses Kubisa said Ramaphosa’s election heralded a time for South Africans work together.

“You are taking office at a crucial time when the economy is ailing. It’s time to rally around each other and build our country‚” Kubisa told Ramaphosa.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa was jovial towards Ramaphosa‚ congratulating him and urging him to move to the president’s seat in the National Assembly.

“You have brought the toxic leadership of Mr Zuma to ground‚” he said.

Holomisa said Ramaphosa’s “abrupt rise” to the presidency was as a result of a collective effort of all South Africans.

Other political parties called on Ramaphosa to work towards the best interest of South Africans. </s> Cyril Ramaphosa, born 17 November 1952, is the fifth and current post-apartheid President of South Africa. He has been the Deputy President of South Africa since 2014 and was elected as President of the African National Congress (ANC) South of Johannesburg in December 2017.

He is also the Chairman of the National Planning Commission, which is responsible for strategic planning for the future of South Africa, with the goal of rallying the nation “around a common set of objectives and priorities to drive development over the longer term”.

Ramaphosa has been sworn in as the president of Africa’s most industrialised nation (South Africa) in the national parliament in Cape Town, the country’s Capital on Thursday February 15 2018, a day after Jacob Zuma resigned from office following allegations of corruption

Ramaphosa automatically became the acting president of the country on 14 February 2018, after the embattled former president, Jacob Zuma was pressured to resign on Wednesday and will be sworn in by Mogoeng later in the day and is due to deliver his first state-of the nation address on Friday. He staked his claim to the top post when he replaced Zuma as leader of the African National Congress almost two months ago.

A former lawyer and one of the richest black South Africans, Ramaphosa has promised to revive the struggling economy, create jobs and tackle corruption. His appointment more than a year before national elections could help the ANC win back voters alienated by a succession of scandals, policy missteps and inappropriate appointments during Zuma’s nine-year tenure.

While Ramaphosa succeeded in outmanoeuvring Zuma since his tight election as ANC president, the road ahead is perilous — the party remains deeply divided, the cabinet needs a clean-out and a moribund economy requires a jump-start.

Growth has averaged just 1.6 percent a year since Zuma took office in 2009, undermined partly by policy decisions and inappropriate appointments that rocked investor and business confidence. Disgruntlement with his rule caused support for the ANC to fall to a record low in 2016 municipal elections and cost it control of Johannesburg, the economic hub, and Pretoria, the capital. </s> JOHANNESBURG — Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday was elected as South Africa's new president by ruling party legislators after the resignation of Jacob Zuma, whose scandals brought the storied African National Congress to its weakest point since taking power at the end of apartheid.

"I will try very hard not to disappoint the people of South Africa," Ramaphosa said in ending his speech to parliament shortly after it elected him. He said the issue of corruption is on "our radar screen."

Ramaphosa was the only candidate nominated for election after two opposition parties said they would not participate. The two parties instead unsuccessfully called for the dissolution of the National Assembly and early elections.

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng presided over the parliamentary election and congratulated Ramaphosa, who had been Zuma's deputy and in December was narrowly elected leader of the ruling party over Zuma's ex-wife.

Zuma resigned after years of scandals that damaged the reputation of the ruling ANC, which had instructed him this week to step down or face a parliamentary motion of no confidence that he would almost certainly lose. Zuma denies any wrongdoing.

Ramaphosa is South Africa's fifth president since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994. On Friday evening, he is expected to deliver the state of the nation address that had been postponed during the ruling party's days of closed-door negotiations to persuade Zuma to resign.

As some South Africans cheered the end to Zuma's era, the rand currency strengthened against the dollar in early trading Thursday.

The country's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, will cooperate with Ramaphosa if he acts in the interests of the South African people, said party leader Mmusi Maimane.

"We will hold you accountable and I will see you in 2019 on the ballot box," Maimane said.

Members of a smaller opposition party walked out of parliament before the election, saying the ANC plan to choose a new president was "illegitimate."

Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, said ANC lawmakers had failed to hold former Zuma to account for alleged corruption and had therefore violated the constitution.

Ramaphosa now is challenged with reviving the reputation of the ANC, Africa's most prominent liberation movement, which fought apartheid and has been in power since the first all-race elections in 1994. The party's popularity fell as anger over corruption allegations grew and it suffered its worst showing at the polls in municipal elections in 2016.

The prospect of facing a possible coalition government for the first time helped push some ANC leaders to decide that Zuma had to go.

On Thursday the foundation of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, welcomed Zuma's departure but said the state must act against "networks of criminality" that have hurt the country's democracy.

As the country marks the centenary of Mandela's 1918 birth, "there is a need to reckon with the failures of the democratic era," the foundation said. "We believe that we are at a critical moment in our history, one which offers us the unique opportunity to reflect, to rebuild, and to transform." </s> It is D-day in South Africa and polls have opened in what is the country’s sixth general elections since returning to democracy from apartheid 25 years ago.

So, what are the stakes here in this election? President Cyril Ramaphosa is battling it out with Julius Malema from the Economic Freedom Fighters, and Mmusi Maimane from Democratic Alliance, the two main opposition parties in the country.

The elections, will determine the next president of the second largest economy in Africa and will elect a new National Assembly and provincial legislatures.

Now the fact of the matter is that special voting actually had begun since Monday in what was designed to allow for people who might be unable to do so today. Our Journalist Daniel Mumbere is in Pretoria for us and has been monitoring the situation with voting there. </s> President Cyril Ramaphosa has conveyed on behalf of the Government and people of South Africa, his sincere greetings and best wishes to President Jair Bolsonaro, on the occasion of his Presidential inauguration on 1 January 2019, as he assumes his role and official duties as the 38th President of the Federative Republic of Brazil. It […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has conveyed on behalf of the Government and people of South Africa, his sincere greetings and best wishes to President Jair B...



Source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric... </s> Cyril Ramaphosa was elected as South Africa’s president in a parliamentary vote on Thursday and pledged to tackle endemic corruption after scandal-ridden Jacob Zuma resigned on orders from the ruling African National Congress.

Ramaphosa faces an uphill battle in revitalising growth, creating jobs and stamping out a culture of graft in a nation still polarised by race and inequality more than two decades after the end of white-minority rule.

Still, Zuma’s departure late on Wednesday provided evidence of the strength of South Africa’s democratic institutions, from the courts to the media and the constitution.

Ramaphosa, in brief remarks to parliament ahead of his first state of the nation address expected on Friday, said he would work hard “not to disappoint the people of South Africa”.

“The issues that you have raised, issues that have to do with corruption, issues of how we can straighten out our state-owned enterprises and how we deal with state capture (influence-peddling) are issues that are on our radar screen,” he said.

Ramaphosa, 65, was elected unopposed as Zuma’s permanent successor by parliament, and sworn into the post by South African Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, who had earlier read out the former president’s resignation letter.

The rand, which has gained ground whenever Zuma ran into political turbulence, soared to a near three-year high against the dollar on word of his resignation.

South Africa’s main stock market index jumped nearly 4 percent and headed for its biggest one-day gain in more than two years as investors hailed Zuma’s exit after nine years in office rife with allegations of sleaze and economic mismanagement.

Ratings agency Moody’s said it was closely monitoring developments in South Africa, focusing on the policy implications of Zuma’s political demise.

The S&P Global agency said South Africa’s sovereign credit ratings and outlook will not be immediately affected by the change of the country’s leadership.

Ramaphosa, who was elected ANC head in December and will be president until elections next year, has his work cut out to win back disaffected voters after a string of scandals and policy blunders under Zuma, as well as investor confidence.

But his stated commitment to boosting growth and stamping out graft has gone down well with foreign investors and ANC members who felt Zuma’s handling of the economy could seriously damage the party in the 2019 election.

Africa’s most developed economy needs faster economic growth if it is to reduce high unemployment – currently at 27 percent, up from around 22 percent in the year before Zuma first took power – and alleviate persistent, widespread poverty that aggravates inequality and stokes instability.

The economy slipped into recession last year for the first time since 2009 and has also declined in indices that measure corruption and the ease of doing business.

Moreover, the economy remains largely under the control of whites who held power under apartheid.

The 75-year-old Zuma said in a 30-minute farewell address to the nation he disagreed with the way the ANC had thrust him towards an early exit after Ramaphosa replaced him as party president, but would accept its orders.

“Zuma did the right thing to resign. Yes, let’s see what Ramaphosa is having for us, thank you,” said Hlengiwe Mswazi, an office worker in the capital Pretoria.

Tshepo Kgobane, also in Pretoria, said: “So it is a good thing that he resigned. We must have a party, a big party, we must throw a party because he resigned. We wanted to see that.”

Zuma bowed out hours after police raided the luxury home of the Gupta family, the Indian-born billionaire allies of the former president who have been at the centre of corruption accusations against Zuma and his circle for years.

Zuma and the Guptas have always denied wrongdoing.

“Defiant in defeat” and “Going, Going, Gone” were among the newspaper headlines that captured Zuma’s unwillingness to leave.

“South Africa’s long nightmare is over,” read the headline from online political news website Daily Maverick.

Julius Malema, leader of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led his party in a mass walkout from parliament on Thursday, saying it would not take part in the election of a new president so as not to legitimise an ANC candidate.

The EFF, which has six percent of the seats in parliament, had sponsored a no-confidence motion in Zuma that would have gone ahead on Thursday had Zuma not jumped.

The foundation set up to guard the legacy of the late anti-apartheid icon and first black South African president Nelson Mandela said Zuma’s departure brought to an end “a painful era for the country”.

“One chapter in South Africa’s political soap opera has finally ended with the resignation last night of President Jacob Zuma,” NKC African Economics analysts wrote in a note.

“It would be gratifying to see the dedication and purpose the ANC put into ridding itself of Zuma now be directed into rebuilding the economy, dealing with the corruption still residing in the ANC and improving its shoddy governance record.”

South African police said officers had arrested eight people so far in its investigations into high-echelon influence-peddling revolving around the Gupta family.

Chief prosecutor Shaun Abrahams declared Ajay Gupta, one of the three Gupta brothers, a “fugitive from justice” after he failed to hand himself in. Abrahams provided no further details.

State broadcaster SABC said a Gupta family member was among those detained, while a senior judicial source said police were expected to arrest up to seven more people and that Gupta family members would be among them.

Police said the raid on the Gupta estate was in connection with a state-funded dairy farm, which prosecutors last month called a “scheme designed to defraud and steal”. </s> CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Cyril Ramaphosa became South Africa's president with a message of clean government and inclusiveness on Thursday, stirring the hopes of many South Africans that he can reverse a corrosive period of decline and division under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

Ramaphosa, a lead negotiator in the transition from apartheid to democracy in the early 1990s, was elected by jubilant ruling party legislators anxious to shed political limbo and get the leadership of the country back on track. In an indication of the challenges facing Ramaphosa, the two main opposition parties did not participate in the National Assembly vote, arguing it was a sham process because the ruling African National Congress party was tainted by its association with corruption scandals during the Zuma era.

Even so, the 65-year-old Ramaphosa delivered a measured, conciliatory speech to lawmakers in a chamber that had been the scene of heckling and sometimes scuffles during appearances by Zuma, who resigned late Wednesday after protracted discussions with ANC leaders who told him to step down or face a parliamentary motion of no confidence.

"I will try very hard not to disappoint the people of South Africa," Ramaphosa said soon after he was nominated as an unopposed presidential candidate and elected by his party. He said the issue of corruption and mismanagement is on "our radar screen" and that one of his first aims is to meet rival party leaders so that "we can try and find a way of working together."

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng presided over the parliamentary election as well as a separate swearing-in ceremony for Ramaphosa, who had been Zuma's deputy and in December was narrowly elected leader of the ruling party over Zuma's ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Noting the celebrations by the ruling party legislators after days of national anxiety over whether or when Zuma would resign, the robed chief justice said: "I'm trying to adapt to the environment. I'm not used to it. In a court of law, no singing is allowed."

While Ramaphosa has consolidated his control of the ANC in recent weeks, he still faces the delicate task of removing compromised figures from the old administration as part of his anti-corruption drive while trying to avoid alienating ruling party factions that could try to undercut him. He must also restore the reputation of the ANC, which fought apartheid and has been in power since Nelson Mandela was elected South Africa's first black president in the first all-race elections in 1994.

The party's popularity fell as anger over corruption allegations grew and it suffered its worst showing at the polls in municipal elections in 2016. Investor jitters over the political situation contributed to sluggish economic growth, compounding generational problems of poverty and economic inequity that will put early pressure on Ramaphosa's administration.

Still, the South African rand strengthened Thursday to its highest level against the dollar in several years amid a sense that the new president represents stability and transparency lacking under his predecessor.

The foundation of Mandela, who died in 2013, said the state must now act against "networks of criminality" that have hurt the country's democracy.

As the country marks the centenary of Mandela's 1918 birth, "there is a need to reckon with the failures of the democratic era," the foundation said. "We believe that we are at a critical moment in our history, one which offers us the unique opportunity to reflect, to rebuild, and to transform."

The country's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, will work with Ramaphosa if he acts in the interests of the South African people, said party leader Mmusi Maimane.

"We will hold you accountable and I will see you in 2019 on the ballot box," Maimane said. While Ramaphosa welcomed Maimane's offer of cooperation, he described the election warning as "grandstanding."

Members of a smaller opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, walked out of the chamber before Ramaphosa's election, saying it was illegitimate because South Africa's top court had ruled that lawmakers failed to hold Zuma to account in a scandal over state-funded upgrades to his private home.

The ruling party is "incapable of fighting corruption and maladministration from within its own ranks," said Julius Malema, the opposition party's leader.

South African authorities, meanwhile, said they were seeking to arrest a key member of the Gupta business family accused of securing state contracts by using its links to Zuma when he was president. Ajay Gupta is considered to be a fugitive after he failed to turn himself in, police told South African media.

Police have already arrested eight people in a probe of a dairy project in which state funds earmarked for local farmers allegedly were siphoned off to a company tied to the Gupta family, which denies any wrongdoing.

Ramaphosa, South Africa's fifth president since the end of white minority rule, will return to parliament Friday evening to deliver a state of the nation address that had been postponed during the ruling party's deliberations with Zuma over his resignation. The occasion will feature both policy and pomp, including a military parade, a flyover by air force planes, a 21-gun salute and more than 1,100 guests.

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Cyril Ramaphosa is elected by the National Assembly as President of South Africa.