South African lawmakers on Thursday elected Cyril Ramaphosa as the country’s new president after former President Jacob Zuma resigned under pressure from his own ruling party.
The new President, Ramaphosa was elected without a vote after being the only candidate nominated in the parliament in Cape Town, chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng told assembled lawmakers.
Jacob Zuma resigned on Wednesday as the African National Conference (ANC) party finally turned against him after a nine-year reign dominated by corruption scandals, economic slowdown and plummeting electoral popularity. Zuma had been in a power struggle with Ramaphosa, his deputy president since in 2014.
But the new leader faces a difficult road ahead. Though South Africa ended a repressive and racist apartheid regime 23 years ago and holds enormous amounts of resources and wealth, it is also crippled by massive inequality, poverty and corruption.
