Beitrag vom 07.07.2021

The Africa Report

South Africa: Zuma’s weakness shows that ‘Ramaphosa is winning’

By Carien du Plessis

Moves by South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa to reform the governing African National Congress (ANC) by ridding it of leaders implicated in large-scale government corruption, or "state capture", are slowly bearing fruit.

Nevertheless, a reluctance by the police to arrest former president Jacob Zuma on contempt charges – as gun-toting supporters came out to “protect” him – is testing the resilience of the state institutions Ramaphosa has been setting out to strengthen in his just over three years as the country’s president. Zuma severely weakened institutions in the justice sector by appointing loyalists.

ANC behind Ramaphosa

The ANC’s 86-strong national executive committee (NEC) expressed its “unequivocal commitment and defence of the constitution, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary”, after a special Zoom meeting on Monday 5 July.

(incomplete)