Profile of the Current President of South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa
Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is the fifth and current President of South Africa, following the resignation of Jacob Zuma, having taken office following a vote of the National Assembly on 15 February 2018.
He grew up in Soweto, attending Tshilidzi Primary School and Sekano Ntoane High School there. In 1971, he matriculated from Mphaphuli High School in Sibasa, Venda where he was elected head of the Student Christian Movement. He subsequently registered to study law at the University of the North (Turfloop) in 1972.
While at university, Ramaphosa became involved in student politics and joined the South African Students Organisation (SASO) and the Black People’s Convention (BPC).
Cyril Ramaphosa was previously an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader and businessman, he served as the Deputy President of South Africa from 2014 to 2018. He was elected President of the African National Congress (ANC) at the ANC National Conference in Nasrec, 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 was born in Soweto, a township near Johannesburg and the centre of the anti-apartheid struggle, in 1952. He became involved in activism to end the apartheid system while studying at university and was arrested in 1974, spending 11 months in solitary confinement.
After graduating, he co-founded the National Union of Mineworkers, which is now one of the biggest and most powerful trade unions in South Africa. Ramaphosa was a key part of a taskforce that led South Africa’s transition to democracy and is credited with being a skilled negotiator.
He delivered a keynote address at Cosatu’s launch rally in Durban in December 1985. In March 1986 he was part of COSATU’s delegation which met the African National Congress in Lusaka, Zambia.
Ramaphosa was elected as the first General Secretary of the union, a position he held until he resigned in June 1991, following his election as Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC). Under his leadership, union membership grew from 6,000 in 1982 to 300,000 in 1992, giving it control of nearly half of the total black workforce in the South African mining industry
Despite Nelson Mandela describing him as one of the most gifted leaders of the “new generation”, Ramaphosa failed to get the ANC nomination to succeed Mandela as president in 1999.
After that blow, Ramaphosa swapped politics for a lucrative foray into business, using his union connections and becoming one of the richest men in the country. His popularity took a knock in 2012 when police shot dead 34 striking workers at a mine operated by London-listed Lonmin. At the time of the killings, Ramaphosa was on the board of directors and had called for a crackdown on the strikers, whom he accused of “dastardly criminal” behaviour.
In 2012 Ramaphosa returned to politics and two years later he became South Africa’s deputy president. Despite being part of Zuma’s administration, he is seen as a reformer who will steer the country away from the corruption scandals that have hurt the economy.
Despite his credentials as an important proponent of South Africa’s peaceful transition to democracy, he has also been criticised for the conduct of his business interests although he has never been indicted for illegal activity in any of these controversies. Controversial business dealings include his joint venture with Glencore and allegations of benefitting illegally from coal deals with Eskom which he has staunchly denied, during which Glencore was in the public spotlight for its tendentious business activities involving Tony Blair in the Middle East; and his employment on the board of directors of Lonmin while taking an active stance when the Marikana Massacre took place on Lonmin’s Marikana premises.
In August 1982, CUSA resolved to form the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), and in December Ramaphosa became its first secretary. Ramaphosa was the conference organiser in the preparations leading to the formations of the Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU).
Cyril Ramaphosa The President of the ANC
Ramaphosa has long been considered a potential presidential candidate and ran in the 1997 ANC Presidential election, losing to Thabo Mbeki.
Ramaphosa announced that he would seek the ANC Presidency in 2017, with his second run for President. Ramaphosa launched his campaign slogan as #CR17 Siyavuma.
By August 2017, Ramaphosa had received the endorsement of the trade union COSATU, the National Union of Mineworkers as well as the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng provincial ANC leadership. Individuals who also stepped forward to support Ramaphosa include education minister Angie Motshekga, Cosatu’s president Sdumo Dlamini, former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and former KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu.
On 18 December 2017, Ramaphosa was elected the president of the ANC at the party’s 54th Elective Conference, defeating his rival Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, ex-wife of President Zuma, by 2440 votes to 2261.