South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is set to replace Jacob Zuma as the president, is likely to face a number of challenges in reforming the country’s economy some experts said.
They also express fears that he might also face some challenges in reforming the political system while in office.
Zuma, in power since 2009, resigned on Wednesday after being accused of corruption, prompting the opposition to repeatedly call for his resignation.
Commenting on Ramaphosa’s expected accession to the presidential office, a number of experts told Sputnik that the new administration would take steps to cope with the existing South African problems and change government policies.
The director of research at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge told Sputnik that in comparison with Zuma, South Africa under Ramaphosa would see quite a different approach to political relations within the state and the economic system of the nation.
“Ramaphosa is no saint. There are no saints in politics, but all of the indicators seem to suggest that he is going to be a very different kind of leader to the leadership of Jacob Zuma over the last decade.
“First of all he seems to be a very good rhetorician, which is very good for politics …
“Secondly he seems to be, given his record at the end of apartheid and the negotiation process that brought in the new constitution, he seems to be a very good negotiator and a very good decision-maker.
“All of these things are important in politics,” Lawrence Hamilton said.
The scholar added that Ramaphosa would also become one of the best candidates for economic transformation and anti-corruption steps.
“I think that one of the best people to do that process of economic transformation is Cyril Ramaphosa, because he will do it in a prudential manner, he will do it in a gradual way.
“He’s got a very hard task on his hands, both in terms of that and in terms of rooting out corruption, but I think that South Africans have a great deal to look forward to,” the University of Cambridge official added.
Speaking about the difficulties in South Africa’s economy, James Hamill, a lecturer at the University of Leicester, told Sputnik that Ramaphosa was rather a competent politician and manager and could take steps to improve the economic situation while in office.
“This is a huge task as the economy is floundering but Ramaphosa is a far superior politician, a much more competent manager, he currently enjoys the confidence of both business and organised labor and the confidence of international investors and ratings agencies,” Hamill said.Read full story.
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