Analysts and Officials React to Cyril Ramaphosa’s Second Term as ANC Leader
(Bloomberg) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa secured a second term as head of the governing African National Congress with a bigger margin of victory than when he first became party leader in 2017.
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The following are comments analysts and government officials after the results of the ANC election were announced earlier on Monday.
Piotr Matys, senior currency analyst at InTouch Capital Markets Ltd.
“President Ramaphosa passed an important test of his support at the ANC by being re-elected the governing-party leader. This means that it’s less likely that an impeachment process against him will start in the coming weeks/months, further reducing uncertainty in politics. That said, allegations of corruption may have weakened his status at the ANC. Consequence: the Ramaphosa administration may find it more difficult to make significant progress on structural reforms.”
Cristian Maggio, head of portfolio and ESG Strategy at TD Securities
“Mashatile was elected party deputy president, which likely marks him as South Africa’s deputy-president candidate for 2024, despite the fact Mashatile himself was not in support of Ramaphosa.”
“Five out of seven candidates voted in the top seven positions belong to President Ramaphosa’s camp, which will help him strengthen his grip on the party. The market is likely to reward the fading of political uncertainty for now with a strong rand and lower yields, though none of South Africa’s structural issues will be immediately resolved by this vote. Moreover, Ramaphosa’s corruption allegations will remain a sword of Damocles hanging over his full next term.”
Henrik Gullberg, macro strategist at Coex Partners
“I think if anything market reaction is showing some relief as one would have to suspect that the Zuma faction throwing their support behind Mkhize may have come at a price, though not sure what that price would look like.”
“In terms of the economy, though, I don’t think it matters much that he won. It will be a struggle to make much of a difference to kickstart it.”
Vincent Magwenya, spokesman for Ramaphosa
“This is a positive outcome for South Africa. Certainly a positive outcome for the governing party, but most importantly a positive outcome for the acceleration of the institutional reforms that the president has undertaken as well as the economic reforms that will take us to the envisaged next level of economic performance.”
Ramaphosa’s victory means “there will be more focus on implementation as has been the case over the past three years, but with more impetus. It also means there will be further acceleration on implementing reforms as well as on the fight against corruption, which has already gained a little bit of momentum coming out of the Zondo commission report, but also coming out of the enablement that law-enforcement agencies and other institutions of democracy have received over the past four years.”
Pravin Gordhan, minister of public enterprises
“Ramaphosa’s win shows outstanding support within the party for his entire economic reform package that includes all the state-owned companies and other investment projects.”
Mondli Gungubele, minister in the presidency
“This is a victory for the unemployed, for inequality, for poverty for a South Africa that must be competitive in the world and a noble participant among the nations of the world.”
Solly Mapaila, general secretary of the South African Communist Party
‘We expect that the ANC will be committed to a renewal process. We hope the new leader will be able to continue the fight against corruption and unify the organization and implement radical transformation programs that will respond to the needs of our people.”
“The biggest challenge for the ANC’s new leader will be formulating a tangible program to support the poor, who are now living in crisis because of the continuing high levels of inflation - without that there won’t be any acceptance of any leader.”
--With assistance from Amogelang Mbatha.
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