South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa Re-elected as ANC President

South Africa's president Cyril Ramaposa was re-elected on Monday for a second term as the leader of the country's ruling African National Congress party.

Ramaphosa won 2,476 votes against his rival, former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, who received 1,897 votes.

Now that Ramaphosa has been re-elected as the ANC's leader, he will be the party's presidential candidate for the forthcoming election 2024.

The ANC also announced election results for six top party positions: deputy president Paul Mashatile, chairman Gwede Mantashe, Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, 1st Deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonyane, 2nd Deputy Secretary-General Maropene Ramokgopa and treasurer-general Gwen Ramokgopa.

South African President Ramaphosa faced calls to resign recently after accusations of corruption were leveled against him. However, on 13 December, the country’s parliament voted against Ramaphosa’s impeachment. Notably, the ANC largely supported its leader in the vote.

The corruption scandal has been dragging on since 2020, when Former South African State Security Agency chief Arthur Fraser accused Ramaphosa of concealing the theft of $4Mln from his Phala Phala game farm.

Fraser claimed that the money had been obtained by the president through money-laundering and bribe taking. Ramaphosa, however, stated that he had informed police of the crime at the time and insisted that the reason for the accusation was "dirty politics".