From Bloomberg via BizNews

South African President Jacob Zuma’s chances of serving out a second term may have dimmed after being implicated in a new graft probe and that could tip the race to succeed him in favor of his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa, 63, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Zuma’s 67-year-old ex-wife whose term as chairwoman of the African Union Commission ends in January, are regarded as front-runners to take over from Zuma as leader of the ruling African National Congress next year, and possibly president in 2019. Under the constitution, should Zuma resign, Ramaphosa would automatically become acting president for a maximum of 30 days while the National Assembly elects a replacement from its member.

 

Zuma’s early exit may “circumvent the possibility of Dlamini-Zuma coming in,”  Dirk Kotze, a politics professor at the University of South Africa, said by phone from Pretoria, the capital. “It provides Ramaphosa with a major advantage. It will, in a sense, resolve the succession process by default.”

Ramaphosa has a breadth of experience few can match in South Africa. A lawyer who co-founded the National Union of Mineworkers, he helped negotiate a peaceful end to apartheid and draft South Africa’s first democratic constitution. He lost out to Thabo Mbeki in the contest to succeed Nelson Mandela as president in 1999 and went into business, securing control of the McDonald’s franchise in South Africa and amassing a fortune before returning to full-time politics in 2012 as ANC deputy president.

Resignation calls

ANC veterans, opposition parties and civil rights and religious groups have called for Zuma to resign after the Constitutional Court found in March that he violated his oath of office by refusing to repay taxpayer money spent on his private home. The campaign gained impetus this week when prosecutors dropped fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan that he said were aimed at removing him from the post. The graft ombudsman then released a report saying Zuma may have breached the code of ethics in his relationship with the Gupta family, who are his friends and in business with his son. Zuma, who has denied ever intentionally breaking the law, is considering whether to challenge the findings in court.

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