South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), has a new president – Cyril Ramaphosa. But who is he?
Ramaphosa cuts a fitting figure to take over government, stabilise the economy, and secure the constitutional architecture that he helped create at the end of apartheid.
But to expect more would be expecting too much. He is unlikely to veer far from the traditional economic path chosen by the ANC.
There are some important features we can draw on to make some conjectures about the man.
The early days
Ramaphosa was born in Johannesburg, the industrial heartland of South Africa, on November 17, 1952. The second of three children, his father was a policeman. He grew up in Soweto where he attended primary and high school. He later went to Mphaphuli High School in Sibasa, Limpopo, were he was elected head of the Student Christian Movementsoon after his arrival, attesting to his Christian beliefs.
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