Mandela's favoured heir Ramaphosa poised to lead South Africa

Almost two decades after Nelson Mandela stepped down as South Africa’s president, his favored successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, is finally poised to reach the summit of power.

With his election as leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Monday, Ramaphosa, 65, will be the party’s presidential candidate in 2019 and may take over running the country from Jacob Zuma sooner than that if he’s ousted before the end of his second term.

The lawyer who co-founded the biggest mining workers union, led negotiations to end apartheid and became one of the richest black South Africans, carries the hopes of investors, business leaders and workers that he can reverse the decay of the nation and the ANC left by Zuma’s almost nine years of scandal-ridden rule.

“He was the last credible candidate from the modernising wing of the ANC,” said Anthony Butler, a political science professor at the University of Cape Town and author of a biography of Ramaphosa.

“From the point of view of the ANC, it will almost certainly prolong its life as a credible electoral competitor.”

Ramaphosa’s ascendancy is shadowed by daunting tasks – revive Africa’s most-industrialized economy, slash a 28% unemployment rate and stamp out rampant corruption.

The ANC he now leads is in danger of losing the absolute majority it’s held since apartheid ended in 1994.

Unifying figure

“Cyril understands what this economy requires; he has got the ability to mobilise South Africans around a common goal,” said Enoch Godongwana, the ANC’s head of economic policy.

“He is a unifier. He managed to pull all South Africans together to develop the constitution, which today has won international acclaim.”

While Mandela described Ramaphosa as one of the ANC’s most gifted leaders and wanted him to take over as president when he stepped down, Thabo Mbeki outmaneuvered him for the post.

Ramaphosa quit full-time politics for business in 1996 and amassed a fortune after founding investment company Shanduka Group, which accumulated stakes in platinum mines operated by Lonmin and a coal-mining venture with Glencore International.

He secured the McDonald’s franchise in South Africa and became chairman of MTN Group, Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company, and Bidvest Group, a holding company with interests spanning from catering to office supplies.

He played an important role in the Northern Ireland peace process, carrying out secret inspections of Irish Republican Army arms dumps with former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari that helped to push negotiations forward.

Hillside mansion

Critics have targeted Ramaphosa for his fortune and an interest in the wildlife industry after he made a 19.5 million-rand (€1.3 million) bid for a buffalo in 2012.

Today he owns a buffalo and antelope ranch and breeds long-horned Ugandan Ankole cattle.

He’s also married to the sister of the country’s only black dollar billionaire, Patrice Motsepe, and is building a hillside mansion overlooking the sea in Cape Town’s exclusive Fresnaye suburb.

Ramaphosa came under fire after police shot dead 34 protesters at Lonmin’s Marikana mine in 2012.

In an email written days before the killings, Ramaphosa described the violence at the mine as “dastardly criminal” and urged police to take “concomitant action.” A commission of inquiry cleared him of wrongdoing.

His political comeback began later that year when he became deputy president of the ANC, and of the nation in 2014.

He was an architect of the country’s economic blueprint, known as the National Development Plan, spearheaded efforts to ease power shortages that were crippling the economy and helped negotiate a national minimum wage.

Zuma criticism

Initially Ramaphosa remained quiet about Zuma, who was accused by the nation’s top court of violating his oath of office.

But he complained about the president’s decision to fire Pravin Gordhan as finance minister in March.

He also increasingly spoke out against “state capture,” a term used in South Africa to describe allegations that Zuma has allowed the Gupta family, who are in business with one of his sons, to secure state contracts and influence cabinet appointments.

On the campaign trail, Ramaphosa pledged to boost the growth rate to five percent within five years, restore investor confidence, fight graft and stabilize public finances by cutting spending and increasing some taxes.

“We must act now, boldly, decisively and collectively, to change the trajectory of our economy and our country,” Ramaphosa said in a November 14 speech near Johannesburg.

“There is a need for a decisive new approach. We need a new deal for South Africa.”

Mining laws

His policy proposals include rethinking draft laws that would force mining companies to maintain 30% black ownership even after investors sell out, improving tax breaks to encourage manufacturing, research and development and reducing the cost of doing business, especially for small companies.

He also wants to improve the quality of state health and education, and the management of state companies.

“Ramaphosa has a clear idea of what he needs to do,” Colin Coleman, head of sub-Saharan Africa at Goldman Sachs Group, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV.

“This is our chance to defeat corruption and put South Africa back on the road to a modern economic recovery.”