South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected Monday for a new term at the head of the government’s African National Congress (ANC), a vote that took place amid allegations of corruption.
Ramaphosa obtained 2,476 votes during the ANC congress, winning by more than 500 votes over his main rival, Zweli Mikhize, who received 1,897, as reported by the South African news portal News24.
Likewise, Paul Mashatile has been elected as vice-president of the formation after collecting 2,178 ballots. Behind him were Oscar Mabuyane, with 1,858, and Ronald Lamola, with 315. Gwede Mantashe was elected president of the ANC.
Ramaphosa’s victory in the ANC congress vote puts him in pole position ahead of the 2024 presidential election, in which he could seek another term in office. This possibility had been called into question by the latest accusations against him in connection with a corruption case related to a 2020 robbery at a farm he owned.
A panel of legal experts appointed by the speaker of parliament had advocated initiating an ‘impeachment’ against the president on the grounds that he may have violated the constitution after hiding around $580,000 (about €546,000) in a sofa on his farm, although the ANC used its parliamentary majority to reject the committee’s findings.
The South African president has denied any wrongdoing and announced legal action to overturn the report’s findings, while defending that the money was derived from the sale of game products, something questioned by experts.
Ramaphosa, who had focused his speech on the fight against corruption after his arrival to the Presidency, saw in early May his aspiration to be ANC candidate for the 2024 elections endorsed, after one of his allies revalidated his position as leader of the party in the Eastern Cape province.
The president came to power after Jacob Zuma’s departure from the presidency amid numerous corruption scandals, for which he promised to act firmly against corrupt practices. Zuma was sentenced in June to 15 months in jail for contempt of court for refusing to testify before a judicial panel investigating corruption during his term in office, which led to a wave of protests in the country that resulted in clashes and riots that left several hundred people dead.
Zuma, who last week sued Ramaphosa for unspecified «serious crimes,» is also on trial for nearly 800 payments he allegedly received in connection with a weapons purchase from French firm Thales to modernize the country’s defense apparatus in the late 1990s.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
