Tag: Cyril Ramaphosa

S.African president unveils $26 billion virus relief plan

by Michelle GUMEDE Agence France-Presse Johannesburg, South Africa (AFP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday announced a $26 billion relief package to support the economy and the vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic. In a special address to the nation, Ramaphosa announced “a massive social and economic support package of 500 billion rand ($26.3 billion), which amounts to about 10 percent of our GDP.” “The impact of the coronavirus requires an extraordinary coronavirus budget…the scale […]

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S.Africa parliament to elect Ramaphosa as president Thursday

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AFP) — South Africa’s parliament will elect Cyril Ramaphosa as the country’s new president on Thursday, the ruling ANC party said, after Jacob Zuma resigned in a late-night television address. The African National Congress (ANC), which has a large majority in parliament, said it would nominate Ramaphosa, a wealthy former businessman, “to be elected as the new President of the Republic of South Africa”. After being voted in, Ramaphosa will address lawmakers […]

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Zuma triggers crisis by refusing ANC’s exit order

by Susan Njanji and Ben Sheppard Agence France-Presse JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) – South Africa braced Tuesday for a major political showdown as scandal-tainted President Jacob Zuma reportedly rejected a direct order from the ruling ANC party to leave office. The power struggle over Zuma’s departure put the president at loggerheads with Cyril Ramaphosa, his expected successor, who is the new head of the African National Congress. The party’s powerful 107-member national executive committee (NEC) met for […]

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S.Africa’s ANC to meet Monday as Zuma deadlock tightens

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — The top decision-making body of South Africa’s ruling ANC will meet on Monday following days of talks over President Jacob Zuma’s expected departure from office, a party spokeswoman said Sunday. “An NEC (national executive committee) meeting is scheduled for tomorrow in Pretoria,” ANC spokeswoman Khusela Diko told AFP, declining to reveal the meeting’s agenda. South Africa’s president-in-waiting Cyril Ramaphosa has said negotiations should be concluded within days. But Zuma, whose presidency has […]

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S.Africa political deadlock as Zuma clings to power

by Ben Sheppard  © Agence France-Presse JOHANNESBURG , South Africa (AFP) — South Africa’s political impasse deepened on Saturday with no resolution to extended talks over President Jacob Zuma’s expected departure from office after his own party called for him to resign. Cyril Ramaphosa, the president-in-waiting, and the ruling ANC party have said negotiations should be concluded within days, but have given no details about how Zuma will be eased out of power. The stalemate has left […]

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S. Africa: Ramaphosa calls for unity in maiden speech as ANC chief

by Maryke Vermaak Agence France-Presse JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) – The newly elected head of South Africa’s ruling ANC party called for unity and an end to “vested interests” in politics in his maiden speech Thursday after a bruising leadership contest. Cyril Ramaphosa told roughly 5,000 members of his African National Congress party gathered outside Johannesburg for the much-delayed climax of a five-day conference that the public wanted the “leadership to be united.” President Jacob Zuma has […]

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