South African president - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

South African president extends central bank governor’s term, appoints new deputy

SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended the term of central bank governor Lesetja Kganyago for another five years from November and appointed Mampho Modise as a new deputy governor of the bank, the presidency said on Friday. "The re-appointment of Governor Kganyago will ensure continuity and institutional stability at the reserve bank," the presidency said in a statement. Kganyago's term was extended to 2029, which will make him one of the longest-serving governors in democratic South Africa. He was first appointed in 2014. Modise, who is currently a deputy director-general in the National Treasury, will start her role on…

Feb

2024

By KEITH GOTTSCHALK

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa aims for upbeat tone in annual address, but fails to impress a jaundiced electorate

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THIS year’s State of the Nation Address – delivered annually in February by South Africa’s president – was bound to be stuffed with electioneering messages and slogans. The country goes to the polls any time between May and August and there was no doubt that Cyril Ramaphosa would use the occasion to burnish the governing African National Congress’s reputation. KEITH GOTTSCHALK, Political Scientist, University of the Western Cape That’s indeed what he did. The upcoming elections are the most significant since the country became a democracy in 1994. Numerous opinion polls suggest the ANC will fall below 50% of the…

Feb

2024

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s Ramaphosa to announce election date this month

NEWS

SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa will announce the date of this year's general election later this month, his spokesman said on Wednesday. "If you count from tomorrow, the president will announce the election date within 15 days," Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told reporters. Political analysts say record power cuts, poor service delivery and high levels of unemployment are likely to hurt the governing African National Congress (ANC) party that Ramaphosa, 71, leads, threatening the loss of its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994. Ramaphosa, who has struggled to rekindle economic growth since taking…

May

2023

By KOPANO GUMBI and ALEXANDER WINNING

South African president transfers some power procurement functions to new minister

NEWS

SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa transferred some key power procurement functions to his electricity minister, taking them away from the energy minister who has been criticised for acting too slowly over the worst blackouts the country has experienced. Ramaphosa appointed Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to the newly created post of electricity minister in March to try to find a solution to the crippling outages. But the new minister's powers were not clearly delineated. Analysts say that even now that Ramokgopa has been given some of Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe's responsibilities, he will still be beholden to Mantashe to implement them. According…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

‘We defeated an attempt to weaken, topple the state’

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER FLANKED by the chiefs of the military and police, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa presented a show of strength, power, and carried messages designed to restore the confidence of the nation in the government. The democratic state, he asserted in a special address to the nation, was tested by the unprecedented violence and looting, was found wanting but was able to regroup quickly, stabilize the country and restore peace and stability. The battle had been won but the war against the constitutional state was still on, he warned. Hours before the address, General Rudzani Maphanywa, Chief of…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa tightens COVID-19 restrictions

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER FACED with a steady rise in daily infections, South Africa has mildly tightened COVID-19 restrictions by moving the country to Lockdown Level Two, with reduced time for business and increased curfew period. SA President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a special address to the nation, said the new restrictions were necessary to save lives and to ensure that hospitals were not overwhelmed. He said the need for tighter restrictions were based on sustained increase in new infections as well as a rise in the number of hospitalisations. “Delaying the spread of the virus is especially important now to allow…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Precarious power tilts towards Ramaphosa in battle inside South Africa’s governing party

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IT appears, for the moment, that South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has won a key battle in the war for control of the governing African National Congress (ANC), of which he is also the head. SUSAN BOOYSEN, Research director at Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra), Visiting Professor and Professor Emeritus, University of the Witwatersrand This became apparent after a highly charged recent meeting of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) – its highest decision-making body in between its five-yearly national conferences. The NEC brought a crucial tilt in the factional balance of power towards Ramaphosa. This matters because the…