Ramaphosa in Presidential poll position as SA follows the Brazilian example

In the two and a half years since becoming South Africa’s Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa must have wondered a great deal about making that decision. Especially now, as evidence of political-driven criminality pours into the public arena. But billionaire Ramaphosa is rich enough and smart enough to have kept away from the plundering. And as pressure builds on his boss Jacob Zuma

The odds of the former trade unionist moving into the big office are rapidly improving. How long he gets to stay there, though, will depend on how strongly the political winds of change blow through South Africa in the next few weeks. Hard as the desperate allies try, cracks in the Zupta edifice can no longer be plastered over by propaganda. The conspiracy of silence has finally been broken. There is no way back. The most likely scenario is the one playing out at the country’s BRICS partner Brazil where after taking ages to surface, successive disclosures around the widespread corruption called “Operation Carwash” led to the the jailing of cronies, the impeachment of the President and levelling of criminal charges against her predecessor and many others.

(Bloomberg) — South African President Jacob Zuma’s chances of serving out a second term may have dimmed after being implicated in a new graft probe and that could tip the race to succeed him in favor of his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa, 63, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Zuma’s 67-year-old ex-wife whose term as chairwoman of the African Union Commission ends in January, are regarded as front-runners to take over from Zuma as leader of the ruling African National Congress next year, and possibly president in 2019. Under the constitution, should Zuma resign, Ramaphosa would automatically become acting president for a maximum of 30 days while the National Assembly elects a replacement from its members.

Zuma’s early exit may “circumvent the possibility of Dlamini-Zuma coming in,”  Dirk Kotze, a politics professor at the University of South Africa, said by phone from Pretoria, the capital. “It provides Ramaphosa with a major advantage. It will, in a sense, resolve the succession process by default.”

Ramaphosa has a breadth of experience few can match in South Africa. A lawyer who co-founded the National Union of Mineworkers, he helped negotiate a peaceful end to apartheid and draft South Africa’s first democratic constitution. He lost out to Thabo Mbeki in the contest to succeed Nelson Mandela as president in 1999 and went into business, securing control of the McDonald’s franchise in South Africa and amassing a fortune before returning to full-time politics in 2012 as ANC deputy president.

Resignation Calls

ANC veterans, opposition parties and civil rights and religious groups have called for Zuma to resign after the Constitutional Court found in March that he violated his oath of office by refusing to repay taxpayer money spent on his private home. The campaign gained impetus this week when prosecutors dropped fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan that he said were aimed at removing him from the post. The graft ombudsman then released a report saying Zuma may have breached the code of ethics in his relationship with the Gupta family, who are his friends and in business with his son. Zuma, who has denied ever intentionally breaking the law, is considering whether to challenge the findings in court.