SOUTH AFRICANS are going into the elections next week with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) expected to win the plebiscite and vote back the incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa into power for another 5 year- term.
The elections will be held on 29 May.
RAMAPHOSA, African National Congress
President Ramaphosa has served one term after he replaced former President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma in 2019 after he resigned in a cloud of corruption allegations.
South Africans do not elect their president directly, but instead vote for parties that get assigned seats in Parliament according to their share of the ballot. It is the lawmakers that choose the President.
The contest is between four main candidates; the incumbent Mr Ramaphosa who rose to prominence as the Secretary General of one of the biggest unions in South Africa- the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Mr Julius Malema of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Mr John Steenhuisen (Democratic Alliance) and Jacob Zuma's (uMkhonto weSizwe).
At the ANC's Durban conference in July 1991, Mr Ramaphosa was elected General-Secretary. In his capacity as General-Secretary, he became head of the negotiations commissions of the ANC and participated in the Convention of a Democratic South Africa (CODESA).
With his background in business, Mr Ramaphosa has been touted as a capable leader whose mandate was to restore confidence in the ANC by fighting corruption in the Government.
Born on 17 November 1952 in Johannesburg. His family was moved from Western Native Township to Soweto in 1962, where he attended Tshilidzi Primary School. He completed high school at Mphaphuli High School in Sibasa, Venda in 1971.
He registered to study law at the University of the North in 1972, where he became involved in student politics, joining the South African Student Organisation (SASO) and the Black People's Convention (BPC). He was detained in solitary confinement for 11 months in 1974 under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act for organising pro-Frelimo rallies. He was detained for the second time and held for six months in 1976 following the Soweto student uprising.
While a law clerk for a Johannesburg firm of attorneys, he continued his studies through the University of South Africa (UNISA) obtaining his BProc Degree in 1981. He then joined the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA) as a legal advisor.
In 1982, at the request of the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA) he founded the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) with James Motlatsi and Elijah Barayi, and became the union's first General Secretary. He was instrumental in building NUM into the most powerful union at the time, with membership rising from 6 000 to 300 000 during his tenure. He led mineworkers in one of the biggest strikes in South Africa's history in 1987.
As NUM General Secretary, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and played a prominent role in the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) when COSATU joined forces with the United Democratic Front (UDF) against the apartheid government. He went into hiding in July 1986 after the declaration of a state of emergency.
Mr Ramaphosa was later appointed chairperson of the Reception Committee to receive Rivonia Trialists and in January 1990 he accompanied released ANC political prisoners to Lusaka, Zambia. He served as chairperson of the National Reception Committee, which coordinated arrangements for the release of Nelson Mandela and subsequent welcome rallies within South Africa.
Following South Africa's first democratic elections on 27 April 1994, he became a Member of Parliament and was elected as Chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly. In that position, he was responsible for overseeing the drafting of South Africa's internationally acclaimed first democratic Constitution. In 2009, this contribution was recognised with the award of the National Order of the Baobab in Silver.
On completion of the Constitution drafting process, he left Parliament and his position as ANC Secretary General to move into business, joining New Africa Investments Limited. In 2001, he established Shanduka Group as a black-owned investment holding company, building up a diverse portfolio of listed and unlisted assets.
In 2004, he established the Shanduka Foundation, focusing on education and small business development. The Foundation, which has since changed its name to Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation, comprises Adopt-a-School Foundation, Black Umbrellas and the Cyril Ramaphosa Education Trust. He is co-chairperson of the Advisory Board of the Kagiso Shanduka Trust, which is in partnership with the Free State Department of Education on a programme to develop schools in the province.
He gained a wide range of business experience serving on the boards of some of Shanduka's investee companies and other companies.
He was a member of the United Nations Global Leadership Group that advised the Secretary General's Special Representative on Business and Human Rights.
He has received several awards. He was awarded the Olof Palme prize in October 1987 in Stockholm. In October 1991 he was a visiting Professor of Law at Stanford University in the United States.
He was appointed Deputy Chairperson of the National Planning Commission in 2010, a body created to draft a long-term national development plan for South Africa.
In December 2012, he was elected ANC Deputy President at the ANC's 53rd National Conference in Mangaung.
He was appointed Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa on 25 May 2014.
In December 2017, he was elected 13th ANC President at the 54th National Conference in Johannesburg.
President Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn in as President of the Republic of South Africa on Thursday 15 February 2018 following the resignation of President Jacob Zuma.
STEENHUISEN- DA
The other close contestant is the DA leader, Mr John Steenhuisen.
According to the DA official website, Mr Steenhuisen was elected leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) at the 2023 DA Federal Congress on 2 April 2023.
Mr Steenhuisen previously assumed the role of interim Federal Leader from November 2019, having served as the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition from May 2014 to October 2019.
He has been a public representative for over 20 years. He has been a member of the National Assembly since July 2011.
Prior to his appointment to the National Assembly, Mr Steenhuisen was involved in the politics of KwaZulu-Natal, first as a councillor in Durban at the age of 22 and serving as the Provincial Leader of the DA and the Party's Caucus Leader in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature.
Mr Steenhuisen is campaigning under the banner of "Rescue South Africa." Analysts describe his political entity as a right-wing party, which draws much of its support from the white establishment, some of whom are remnants of the apartheid era. His party has also been associated with Afriforum, a white supremacist group that has been at the forefront of campaigning against pro-majority policies meant to correct historical iniquities on land and ownership of the means of production.
MALEMA -EFF
Outspoken Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader, Mr Julius Malema is also another contestant who is in the race for the South African Presidency.
The Peoples' Assembly website describes Mr Malema as the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, a party he founded in July 2013.
Mr Malema previously served as President of the ANC Youth League from 2008 to 2012 until his expulsion from the party in April 2012.
He graduated from Mohlakaneng High School, Seshego, Limpopo.
In 2010, he completed a two-year diploma in youth development through UNISA.
In 2011 he enrolled at UNISA for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Communications and African languages, and he graduated in March 2016.
He also holds a BA Honours degree in Philosophy. According to the EFF Constitution, the party draws much of its "inspiration from the broad Marxist-Leninist tradition and Fanonian schools of thought in their analyses of the state, imperialism, culture and class contradictions in every society."
Mr Malema's party running under the manifesto "Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding."
ZUMA-MK PARTY
Former President Jacob Zuma who has come back to contest his former party under the banner of Umkhonto weSizwe suffered a huge blow after the Constitutional Court declared that he is eligible to be on the ballot paper because of his previous criminal conviction.
However, his MK party has remained defiant declaring that he will be on the ballot paper come election day. But despite his disqualification, his face will likely remain on the election papers since he remains the leader of his MK party.
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Mr Zuma's participation on the opposite side of the ruling ANC gives a different dimension to the elections as he is likely to draw much support from his former party.
The former President Zuma was born on 12 April 1942 at KwaNxamalala in Nkandla, northern KwaZulu-Natal.
His early political consciousness was shaped by his cousin Muntukabongwa Zuma, who had fought in the Second World War and later joined the trade union movement and the ANC in Durban. The young Zuma was drawn into the organisation and attended its meetings in Mkhumbane.
He joined the ANC Youth League and SACTU in 1959. He became an active member of the ANC during the Roaring Fifties - which came as a result of the militant Programme of Action of 1949 - the 1950s were characterised by the Defiance Campaign, the adoption of the Freedom Charter during the Congress of the People held in Kliptown in 1955, the anti-pass campaigns and the historic 1956 Women's March on the Union Buildings among other achievements including incarceration at Robben Islands by the Apartheid regime.
Mr Zuma was inaugurated as President of the Republic for his first term on the 9th May 2009. The fourth administration was given clear directives by the 52nd National Conference of the ANC. These are generally referred to as the Polokwane Resolutions.
President Zuma began his first term by reconfiguring the government to improve performance, while promoting collaboration with society under the theme of the fourth administration, Working Together We Can Do More.
President Zuma assumed his second term in office as President of the Republic on 24 May 2014 following the ANC victory in the national general elections held on 7 May 2014.
His priority during this second term will be to mobilize society behind the 2030 Vision enunciated in the National Development Plan, the country's socio-economic development blueprint.
MK Party's manifesto seeks to address "economic inequality, inadequate access to quality education and healthcare, national security threats, inequitable land distribution, and the need for robust traditional leadership and foreign policies that reflect our values and aspirations."
