Cyril Ramaphosa

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Cyril Ramaphosa (2019)

Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa [ ramaˈpʰɔ⁠sa ] (born November 17, 1952 in Johannesburg ) is a South African politician ( African National Congress ), trade union leader , entrepreneur and since February 15, 2018 the incumbent President of the Republic of South Africa .

From May 2014 to February 2018 he was Vice President of South Africa under Jacob Zuma , and since December 2017 he has been Chairman of the ANC .

With a fortune of 450 million US dollars, he is considered the twelfth richest South African (as of 2015).

Life

Career at the time of apartheid

Ramaphosa was born in Soweto, the second of three children to Samuel, a police officer, and Erdmuth Ramaphosa. His family belongs to the Venda ethnic group . Ramaphosa first spent his childhood in Johannesburg's Western Native Township , later in Soweto. He went to Soweto Elementary School and Sekano-Ntoane High School . At the end of his school years he became a boarding school student because he moved to Mphaphui High School in Sibasa (in the former Venda reservation ) in 1970 , where Ramaphosa acquired his Matric in 1971 .

In 1972 he enrolled at the University of the North (Turfloop), a college for blacks , to study law with the goal of B.Proc and joined the South African Students' Organization (SASO), which is part of the Black Consciousness Movement ( BCM). Two years later he was elected local chairman of SASO and national chairman of the Student Christian Movement (SCM). After a solidarity rally for Frelimo in 1974, Ramaphosa was detained in Pretoria Central Prison for eleven months without charge under the Terrorism Act ( section 6) . After his release he joined the BCM umbrella organization Black Peoples Convention (BPC), in which he held various functions. After the uprising in Soweto he was again taken into preventive detention for six months under the same law in Johannesburg at the Johannesburg Central Police Station ( John Vorster Square ) . He then returned to work as a lawyer for law firms and continued his studies at the University of South Africa , where he graduated in 1981 with a Baccalaureus Procurationis qualification , which enables him to work as a lawyer in South Africa . In the same year he became full-time legal advisor to the then umbrella organization of South African trade unions, the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA).

In 1982 Ramaphosa founded the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and became its first general secretary in December . At the time, this union represented 6,000 black miners in eight mining companies. By 1986 it already had 115,000 members. In 1985 he helped found the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the new multi-ethnic trade union confederation, and was part of the delegation that met with representatives of the ANC in Lusaka in 1986 . After the declaration of a state of emergency in 1986 and police raids on the apartments and offices of the resistance activists, he had to flee abroad. He traveled to Great Britain with NUM President James Motlatsi to meet with representatives of the British National Union of Mineworkers .

In August 1987 the unsuccessful wage negotiations between the NUM and the Chamber of Mines resulted in a strike that is one of the largest in South Africa's history. Up to 340,000 workers from 40 gold and coal mines were involved. The strike was unsuccessful. In September 1987 the authorities withdrew his passport when he was about to travel to the UK . Just a month later it had to be granted because he was the first person to be awarded the Olof Palme Prize in Stockholm .

Ramaphosa had repeatedly engaged in political issues in the Johannesburg township of Soweto. In this context, he met with the mayor of Soweto to discuss the crisis of the rental boycotts practiced in numerous township settlements of the Vaal Triangle since 1984 . At that time he had considerable influence on many of the major actions of the Mass Democratic Movement , including protests against a Labor Relations Amendment Bill .

Ramaphosa resorted to the hard means of a union leader with the aim of abolishing unacceptable employment relationships in the mining industry in South Africa, which is characterized by the harshest apartheid conditions. Internationally, he called on the international community to boycott coal imports from South Africa. In 1989 a letter from him appeared in this connection in the Dutch daily de Volkskrant , in which he called on the future cabinet ( Cabinet Lubbers III ) of the Netherlands to adopt such a policy. The then President of the Chamber of Mines of South Africa , Kennedy Maxwell, attacked him sharply and countered with an analysis by the American polling institute Gallup , according to which 88 percent of 2,192 South Africans interviewed, including miners, would be against such a measure. Other COSATU member unions supported the international disinvestment campaign, and a draft code of conduct was drawn up in their group for future activities of foreign investors in the South African labor market.

In January 1990, he met with South African politicians in exile in Lusaka and was appointed chairman of the commission that prepared the release of Nelson Mandela ( National Reception Committee ). He also became a member of the international committee. In July 1991 he was elected Secretary General of the organization at the national ANC conference in Durban . In 1992 he took part in the March on Bisho , in which 29 people were killed and over 200 injured by troops from the homeland of Ciskei .

After the end of apartheid

Ramaphosa is welcomed by Chile's President Michelle Bachelet (2014)

In 1994, after the end of apartheid , Ramaphosa was elected chairman of the Constituent Assembly . He resigned from office along with that of General Secretary of the ANC in 1996 after Thabo Mbeki replaced him as the designated successor to President Nelson Mandela . From then on he worked as an entrepreneur, board member and manager , among others for Lonmin (from July 2010), SABMiller , FirstRand and Standard Bank . After re-entering politics, he retired from these company positions, mostly in 2013 and 2014.

In 2001 he founded the Shanduka Group (Shanduka is from the Tshivenda and means change ), at the head of which he was executive chairman. This holding company invests in listed and unlisted companies. There is also a foundation, the Shanduka Foundation . Ramaphosa left the company in 2014.

In 2012 he served as chair of the appeals body of the ANC's Disciplinary Appeals Commission, which confirmed Julius Malema's expulsion from the party . In August 2012, he was at the center of a correspondence between the Lonmin management, of which he was still a member, and the government, in which he called for tough measures against the Marikana strikers - a day later the police shot and killed 34 strikers. On December 18, 2012, he was elected ANC Vice President in place of Kgalema Motlanthes . In May 2014, instead of Motlanthe, he also became Vice President of South Africa in Jacob Zuma's cabinet . Among other things, he has been acting as a mediator between the government and the opposition in Lesotho from 2014 (see also: State crisis in Lesotho 2014 ).

On December 18, 2017, Ramaphosa was elected chairman of the ANC against Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma , an ex-wife of President Jacob Zuma , at the party convention in Soweto; Ramaphosa received 2,440 votes (51.9 percent), Dlamini-Zuma 2261. He replaced Jacob Zuma, who did not run for office again.

President of the Republic of South Africa

Ramaphosa and Putin at the signing of agreements for a strategic partnership between South Africa and the Russian Federation (BRICS Summit 2018)
President Ramaphosa with a South African Wikipedia author

On February 13, 2018, the Executive Committee of the ANC, led by Ramaphosa, ultimately called for the resignation of President Jacob Zuma, who is accused of corruption. One day later, the ANC parliamentary group announced that it would vote Zuma out of office by means of a motion of no confidence; Zuma resigned on the evening of the same day with immediate effect.

With this resignation, Ramaphosa was initially acting president. On February 15, 2018 he was then elected President; he was the only candidate proposed to the National Assembly . His first cabinet was sworn in on February 27, 2018 . After the ANC defended its absolute majority in the National Assembly in the elections at the beginning of May 2019 , Ramaphosa was re-elected president on May 22, 2019 without any opponents.

During the top meeting of the BRICS countries held in Johannesburg in July 2018, bilateral agreements were reached between South Africa and Russia by Presidents Ramaphosa and Putin . The extensive cooperation between the two states in the nuclear sector initiated by the former South African President Jacob Zuma was assessed by Ramaphosa as too expensive and was withdrawn again. He expressed that South Africa does not intend to make major investments in future nuclear technology projects. Instead, bilateral cooperation between the two states should extend to other forms of economic cooperation and to the fight against corruption.

The agreement concluded by Jacob Zuma with Russia on extensive nuclear technology cooperation was heavily criticized in South Africa. It was finally in April 2017 by the Western Cape High Court (Supreme Court of the Western Cape) for unlawful and unconstitutional explained. When President Ramaphosa took over the government, South African energy policy again turned away from extensive activities in the field of nuclear power generation and instead concentrated on renewable energy projects . On the sidelines of the 2018 BRICS summit, Russian (Rusatom Healthcare) and South African (Necsa) representatives signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of nuclear medicine . There are plans to build two small reactors that will be used to produce radionuclides for medical use .

From February 5 to 7, 2020, a top meeting took place between the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the South African President Ramaphosa, who had invited the Chancellor to a state visit. In the official visit program, considerations were foreseen as to how the two countries could jointly contribute to peace building on the African continent and how even closer cooperation could be designed in order to end the conflict in Libya . To achieve these goals, cooperation between the two countries in the United Nations Security Council and between the EU and AU is to be strengthened. There is also a need to discuss how Russia's growing influence on the African continent should be assessed. Ramaphosa emphasized the need for a changed energy policy for his country based on clean and sustainable technologies that aim to achieve low-carbon economic growth and therefore suggested closer cooperation between the two countries in this area. It would also be advantageous for South Africa to share in Germany's experience in the field of vocational training. The further cooperation is deepened with the German-South African "Binational Commission" at ministerial level, initially between the departments for foreign affairs and between the environment ministries.

On February 9, 2020, Ramaphosa was elected President of the African Union for a year .

Private

In his first marriage, Cyril Ramaphosa was married to the activist and social worker Hope Mukondeleli Ramaphosa (* 1954) since July 1, 1978. They lived together in Moroka, a part of Soweto . Ramaphosa is now married to Tshepo Motsepe, Patrice Motsepe's sister , and has four children, one of them from his first and three from his second marriage.

Awards

Web links

Commons : Cyril Ramaphosa  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Forbes List 2015 forbes.com (English), accessed December 5, 2018
  2. ^ A b c d Shelagh Gastrow: Who's Who in South African Politics . Ravan Press, Johannesburg 1986, 2nd ed., Pp. 252-254
  3. ↑ a b c Georges Lory: Afrique Australe - L 'Afrique du Sud, ses voisins, leur mutation . Ed .: Henry Dougier. No. 45 . Éditions Autrement, April 1990, ISSN  0336-5816 , p. 223 f .
  4. ^ South African History Online: Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa. at sahistory.org.za, accessed December 20, 2017
  5. ↑ SowetanLIVE : Interesting facts you may not know about Cyril Ramaphosa . News from February 7, 2018 on www.sowetanlive.co.za (English) accessed on April 14, 2018
  6. ^ A b c d Shelagh Gastrow: Who's Who in South African Politics, Number 5 . Ravan Press, Johannesburg 1995, pp. 257-259
  7. ↑ a b Shelagh Gastrow: Who's Who in South African Politics, Number 3 . Ravan Press, Johannesburg 1990, p. 291
  8. ^ SAIRR : Race Relations Survey 1986, Part 1 . Johannesburg 1987, pp. 372-373
  9. ^ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1989/90 . Johannesburg 1990, pp. 345-346
  10. ^ South African History Online: ANC National Conference 1991-2013 . on www.sahistory.org.za (English)
  11. ↑ Cyril Ramaphosa resigns. sahistory.org.za, accessed November 7, 2016
  12. ↑ Lonmin (LMI.L) insider: Cyril Ramaphosa accessed on September 1, 2012
  13. ^ Lonmin board , accessed September 1, 2012.
  14. ↑ S SAB Miller: Ramaphosa to depart board. iol.co.za, 2013, accessed April 5, 2018
  15. ↑ Standard Bank: Our Director ( memento of October 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English).
  16. ↑ Master of Metamorphosis in FAZ of February 4, 2014, p. 14
  17. ↑ Web presence of the Shanduka Group ( Memento from January 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ↑ Ramaphosa withdraws from Shenduka Group. Mail & Guardian of May 27, 2014 (English), accessed December 19, 2017
  19. ^ Malema, ANC take it to the wire . In: Independent online of March 10, 2012, accessed on March 10, 2012 (English).
  20. ↑ Ramaphosa under fire at Marikana. In: Cape Times of October 24, 2012, accessed December 21, 2012
  21. ↑ Zuma remains ANC chairman. In: faz-net , accessed on December 18, 2012
  22. ↑ S Africa's ANC picks Ramaphosa as leader. BBC (online), December 18, 2017, accessed December 18, 2017 .
  23. ↑ ANC calls for Zuma's resignation. In: tagesschau.de. February 13, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Jan-Philippe Schlueter: Zuma bows to the pressure. In: tagesschau.de. February 15, 2018, accessed February 15, 2018 .
  25. ↑ Cyril Ramaphosa succeeds Zuma as South African president. In: BBC.com. February 15, 2018, accessed February 15, 2018 .
  26. ^ 6th parliament: Ramaphosa elected as president. iol.co.za on May 22, 2019, accessed on May 22, 2019
  27. ↑ James Macharia, Elaine Hardcastle: Russia's Putin raises nuclear deal at Ramaphosa meeting during BRICS . Report from Reuters of July 30, 2018 on www.reuters.com (English)
  28. ↑ Luanda Mpungose, Anna-Maria Chkoniya: BRICS energy co-operation: Why Russia and South Africa still need eachother . Announcement of the Daly Maverick of February 27, 2019 on www.dailymaverick.co.za (English)
  29. ^ NEI: South Africa signs nuclear medicine deal with Russia . Nuclear Engineering International newsletter. Global Trade Media from July 30, 2018 on www.neimagazine.com (English)
  30. ↑ Government of South Africa: President Cyril Ramaphosa hosts Chancellor Angela Merkel on Official Visit, Feb 6 . News from February 2, 2020 on www.gov.za (English)
  31. ^ Richard Calland, Melanie Müller: How South Africa and Germany can help the world . Report to Mail & Guardian Online from January 30, 2020 at www.mg.co.za (English)
  32. ^ Press and Information Office of the Federal Government : The Chancellor's trip to South Africa and Angola. Want to be "a good partner by South Africa's side" . News from February 7, 2020 on www.bundesregierung.de (German, English, French)
  33. ↑ African News Agency: Merkel in SA: Ramaphosa calls for Germany to help in tackling jobs, power challenges . Report from IOL from February 6, 2020 on www.iol.co.za (English)
  34. ↑ African Union: South Africa takes over the presidency - motto “Silence the Guns”. Deutschlandfunk from February 9, 2020, accessed on February 11, 2020
  35. ^ Sheila Keeble (ed.), SPP Kutumela, A. Booley: The Black Who's Who of Southern Africa Today . African Business Publ., Johannesburg 1979, 1st ed., P. 242
  36. ^ Keeping up with the Ramaphosas: Meet SA's new first family. ewn.co.za on February 15, 2018, accessed February 17, 2018
  37. ↑ a b c d e Cyril Ramaphosa ( memento from November 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) in Who's Who Southern Africa (English).
  38. ↑ UCT: Honorary Degrees ( Memento from March 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English).
  39. ↑ Cyril Ramaphosa 1952–. at thepresidency.gov.za, accessed April 5, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Ramaphosa, Cyril
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ramaphosa, Matamela Cyril
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African politician, union leader and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 17th November 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Johannesburg