Meet Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s New President and a Mandela Favorite
Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, said Mr. Ramaphosa was "at best a silent deputy president, and at worst a complicit one." It was only last year — when it was clear Mr. Ramaphosa would not secure Mr. Zuma’s support to succeed him in the party and in the government —
that Mr. Ramaphosa began publicly distancing himself from Mr. Zuma.
15, 2018
JOHANNESBURG — Cyril Ramaphosa, who was sworn in Thursday as South Africa’s president,
recently did what many politicians do at pivotal points in their careers.
More troubling to many was that Mr. Ramaphosa publicly supported his boss or stayed quiet,
even when Mr. Zuma drew criticism for the kind of corruption Mr. Ramaphosa decries.
When Mr. Zuma made him the nation’s deputy president in 2014, Mr. Ramaphosa became the heir apparent to South Africa’s presidency.
as a new broom, sweeping the party clean with a barnstorming assault on its corrupt establishment, years of disappointment lay ahead," wrote Ray Hartley, a journalist, in his book, "Ramaphosa: The Man Who Would Be King."
But to Mr. Ramaphosa’s supporters, he was, as always, playing the long game — waiting to succeed Mr. Zuma and accumulate the power he needs to change South Africa.
In recent weeks, Mr. Ramaphosa chipped away at Mr. Zuma’s support with an undeniable argument: The prospects of the party
and its members would be better in a government led by Mr. Ramaphosa.
" Mr. Ramaphosa said in an interview in 2012. that What Marikana gives us is an opportunity — it has come at great cost — to actually start afresh,