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.
14 February 2018
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.
South Africans
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.
ANC president
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.
