Cyril Ramaphosa re-elected as leader of South Africa’s governing African National Congress | CNN



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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa In a party leadership contest, the ANC has been re-elected leader of the governing African National Congress (ANC). Said on Monday.

The announcement was made at the end of the ANC National Electoral Conference which began on Friday.

Last week, in a vote in parliament, Ramaphosa narrowly avoided a move to start impeachment proceedings against him.

The ANC parliamentary caucus voted last week to stop an investigation into the massive ongoing scandal, after preliminary evidence found Ramaphosa may have breached his oath of office.

Ramaphosa, pictured on December 19, 2022, first became leader of South Africa in 2018.

The findings related to the theft of more than $500,000 in cash from a South African leader’s private game farm in 2020, according to the panel’s investigation. The cash was stuffed inside a leather sofa.

The former chief justice-led panel found that the crime was not reported to the police and “deliberately decided to keep the investigation secret”.

After initial speculation that he would resign, Ramaphosa’s lawyers sought to challenge the panel’s findings in court. The president has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying the money was from the sale of wildlife at his Fala Fala ranch.

Ramaphosa was confirmed as the President of South Africa for the first time in 2018 His predecessor, the scandal-plagued Jacob Zuma, was effectively forced out of office by his own party.

He made a name for himself as a trade union leader during the apartheid era and as chief negotiator for Nelson Mandela, who helped lead South Africa out of white minority rule in the 1990s.

Mandela made it clear that he wanted Ramaphosa to replace him after his presidency ended. But Ramaphosa lost the race to the ANC – and the country – to Thabo Mbeki, another anti-apartheid leader who had returned to South Africa after living in exile.

Ramaphosa later left the government and made his fortune in the business world.