'Don't have a couch stuffed with cash? Don't worry, you can keep reading for free," read the ad on the website of the Daily Maverick, a tough and sometimes very funny South African news site. President Cyril Ramaphosa's cash-stuffed sofa has become a powerful, universally recognised meme, but it still hasn't brought him down.
Mr Ramaphosa was Mr Clean, thought to be so rich that he wouldn't need to steal. The job he sought and got in 2017 was to oust South Africa's previous president, Jacob Zuma, and clean up the corruption.
Mr Zuma and his cronies were spectacularly corrupt, turning the machinery of government into a cash dispenser for themselves in an operation known as "state capture". Even the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which led the the liberation struggle and has been in power ever since, knew that he had gone too far. They voted Mr Zuma out, and Mr Ramaphosa in.
