President Jacob Zuma shouldn’t be allowed to detract from the momentum that Cyril Ramaphosa, the new president of the ruling ANC, has started to build.
Free university education and land redistribution without compensation have far-reaching implications for South Africa’s economy, and requires exceptional leadership.
Cyril Ramaphosa is likely to emphasise stability - in government and the ANC. Given his history he is likely to want to stabilise the economy rather than pursue radical interventions.
South Africa’s ruling ANC has a new leader - Cyril Ramaphosa. But this doesn’t mean that the country is out of the woods. Political instability remains a real possibility.
Zuma’s last address to South Africa’s governing party, the ANC, as its president, betrayed his strange way of dealing with issues. He came across as delusional and self-indulgent.
Changing the South African system to allow for direct election would require the country to look carefully at how a directly elected president should be held accountable to parliament.
The ANC’s elective conference has very important implications for South Africa’s future. Whoever leads determines the kind of leader the country will get, and what policy trajectory will be taken.
The race for the presidency of South Africa’s governing ANC will go down to the wire. Exact calculations for the frontrunners are impossible and the result is likely to be known by 17 or 18 December.
The ANC’s elective conference is important for the party and South Africa. This is because the person chosen to lead the governing party since 1994, has gone on to become president.
Professor in Government and Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, and Adjunct Professor in the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town, University of Strathclyde
Chair of the Board of Trustees and Head of African Futures & Innovation at the Institute for Security Studies. Extraordinary Professor in the Centre of Human Rights, University of Pretoria