Zimbabwe’s main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa has congratulated South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa for being re-elected as leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) for a second five-year term in a party leadership contest.
Ramaphosa won 2,476 against his rival, Zweli Mkhize, a former party treasurer and health minister who garnered 1,897 votes from a total of 4,386 votes cast by party delegates from across the country.
Chamisa paid tribute to the elected ANC leaders and pledged to work with them to build Africa.
“Congratulations to HE Cyril Ramaphosa and Paul Mashatile for being elected President and Vice President of the ANC respectively. I also congratulate my brother and Cde Mbalula Fikile for being elected Secretary General. Let us build a New Africa! Mayibuye iAfrica,” he said.
Commenting on Ramaphosa’s victory, Richard Calland, a professor at the University of Cape Town told The Guardian that:
“Ramaphosa has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat … He was on the verge of resignation just weeks ago but has emerged stronger and more powerful. It is a remarkable turnaround,” he said.
Ramaphosa’s campaign for the past few days was marred with controversy. He was embroiled in a scandal which recently caused calls for him to step down as the country’s president over a corruption scandal.
He survived a vote to start impeachment proceedings against him last week over a parliamentary report that said he might have broken anti-corruption laws by keeping undeclared sums of money at his farm, a scandal now dubbed “Farmgate”.
The ANC leader however denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime over the so-called Farmgate scandal, but it has raised questions about how he acquired the money and why he didn’t declare it.
