South Africa’s President Ramaphosa Re-Elected As ANC Party Leader

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has been re-elected as the leader of the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) on Monday.

Ramaphosa won his re-election bid with 2,476 votes to defeat his rival, a former health minister, Zweli Mkhize.

His re-election comes after his opponents asked him to step down over a scandal known as ‘Farmscandal’ involving the discovery of a stash of cash at his farm.

A few ANC party members of parliament (MPs) rebelled via the ballot but Ramaphosa had been widely tipped to secure re-election for a second five-year term.

However, his campaign was dogged by the Farmgate scandal that broke in June, involving large sums of foreign currency found hidden at his private game farm.

The country’s leader denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes over the scandal, but it has raised questions about how he acquired the money and whether he declared it.

Ramaphosa’s main opponent for the leadership was Zweli Mkhize, who was the health minister during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, until Ramaphosa put him on special leave last year.

He placed Mkhize on special leave after allegations that his department had irregularly awarded contracts to a communications company controlled by his former associates