The parliamentary election of Cyril Ramaphosa as President of South Africa in February is the latest attempt by the once-proud African National Congress (ANC) to recover its tattered reputation after decades of corruption and insolence at the top. The ANC-dominated congress chose him to replace the disgraced Jacob Zuma, who reluctantly resigned under a cloud of suspicion.
Ramaphosa is an astute politician who played a key role in the peaceful transition that ended the apartheid system in 1991. He was elected ANC secretary-general that year and then as an MP in 1994. At the centre of the anti-apartheid struggle and trade union politics in South Africa since the 1980s, he was arrested on many occasions.
