Cyril Ramaphosa, the former trade unionist and key participant in the fight against apartheid, is set to be given a second mandate as South Africa's president, albeit without an absolute majority in parliament. He remains the ANC leader too.
Cyril Ramaphosa, 71, emerged weakened from the elections that took place on 29 May.
Some political analysts have even questioned his ability to serve a full second five-year term.
But after weeks of negotiation he has been named leader of South Africa's first coalition government.
Once described by Mandela as one of the most gifted leaders of his generation, Ramaphosa played a key role in the negotiations that brought an end to apartheid in the early 1990s.
Emergence of an activist
Born on 17 November 1952 in Johannesburg, Ramaphosa comes from a family that was moved from Western Native Township to Soweto in 1962.
He attended Tshilidzi Primary School, and completed high school at Mphaphuli High School in Sibasa, Venda in 1971.
He registered to study law at the University of the North in 1972, and became involved in student politics, joining the South African Student Organisation (SASO) and the Black People’s Convention (BPC).
In 1974, he was sentenced to 11 months detention in solitary confinement, under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act for organising pro-Frelimo rallies. The Frelimo Liberation Front of Mozambique is a left-wing party that has been in powere in Mozambique since 1977.
He was detained for the second time and held for six months in 1976 following the Soweto student uprising.
He then joined the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA) as a legal advisor.
In 1982, he founded the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) with James Motlatsi and Elijah Barayi, at the request of the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA), and became the union’s first General Secretary.
He was instrumental in building NUM into the most powerful union at the time, with membership rising from 6 000 to 300 000 under his leadership.
He also led mineworkers in one of the biggest strikes in South Africa’s history in 1987.
Following the lifting of the ban on the African National Congress (ANC) in 1991, he was elected ANC Secretary General at its first national conference in over 30 years.
He became head of the ANC’s negotiation team at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) and the subsequent multi-party talks.
After South Africa’s first democratic elections on 27 April 1994, he was elected as an MP and, as such, Chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly.
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Five years in power
The former trade unionist turned millionaire businessman was named president 2018 after President Jacob Zuma was forced out after allegations of corruption were levelled against him.
He was sworn in as President of the Republic of South Africa on 15 February 2018 following the resignation of Zuma.
Upon taking the reins of the country, he promised a new dawn for South Africa, but his critics say this has yet to materialise.
In the past decade, unemployment has soared, which led to the worst election result since the end of apartheid.
The party has also struggled to recover from the fraud and corruption accusations that damaged the presidency of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.
New government, new challenges
The party's latest move towards the centre, with a coalition supported by centre-right and right-wing groups, might also impact Ramaphosa's popularity among ANC voters.
In this respect, it is noteworthy that the party is a progressive outfit consisting of a number of groups on the left that has overseen welfare and economic empowerment programmes for poor, black South Africans.
However, Ramaphosa's critics say he presided over the worst ANC election result ever and shouldn't be rewarded for that.
He has faced controversy before, particularly in 2022 when a panel report suggested he may have engaged in questionable actions after a stash of cash was found concealed in furniture at his farm.
That scandal was dubbed "Farmgate", but he denied any wrongdoing and won a new five-year term as ANC leader later that year.
Last month's election, in which the ANC's vote share slumped because of voter anger over issues such as high unemployment, crime and crippling power cuts, could pose an even bigger challenge.
His supporters say he is an excellent negotiator who has mastered the art of compromise - a skill that may be more important than ever in the history of the ANC.
(with newswires)
