Daily Management Review

South African President Zuma Finally Resigns, New President To Be Elected Soon


02/15/2018




South African President Jacob Zuma finally resigned from his position after continued pressure from his party, the African National Congress. The A.N.C. had effectively forced Mr. Zuma to resign from office as it selected another leader for the position following continued and increasing association of Zuma with alleged sordid corruption scandals – which were completely in opposition to the image that he had as a hero of the fight against apartheid.
 
Despite the resignation of Mr. Zuma from the post there are concerns about whether the A.N.C. would be able to bring any change in the party and cleanse and revive itself with the leadership pf the new leader Cyril Ramaphosa. A.N.C. is the party by Nelson Mandela and one which has almost absolute monopoly over politics in South Africa. Cyril Ramaphosa is all set to become the next president of the country after he is elected by the parliament.  
 
A hotly contested election for party leader in December saw Mr. Ramaphosa win it. He is a businessman and had amassed wealth from business and is known to be the reformist face in thee party. He is also a onetime labor leader and protégé of Mr. Mandela. It was being expected that <r. Zuma would step down because the president in South Africa is chosen by the parliament and the parliament is dominated by the A.N.C. However, Mr. Zuma did not want to step down till such time that his party threatened to bring him down and force him out through a vote of no confidence in the parliament.
 
There are very few who regret the fall of Mr. Zuma. He is facing a number of allegations of c corruptions and several of unethical behavior. It is believed that the person who had at one point spent time in jail alongside Nelson Mandela and also was sent to exile, he had later succumbed to the attraction of power and the financial perks that power brings with it. Mr. Zuma has also been repeatedly related to a country that has not been able to do well economically and neither has the promised economic equality – made at the time of end of white minority rule, been established. But it was not until such time that the A.N.C. itself found to bee losing its footing among the supporters that the any form of reigns were put on Mr. Zuma. The party believes that just before the elections of 2019, Mr. Zuma would be a liability for the party.
 
Mr. Ramaphosa vowed to “act fearlessly against alleged corruption and abuse of office within our ranks” after he had won the elections to the leadership pf the A.N.C. Despite his win, there are many Zuma loyalists who are still hodling important positions in the party and the elections margin itself against Mr. Zuma’s ally and his former wife in the A.N.C. elections was very slim.
 
(Source:www.nytimes.com)