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Cash in a Sofa Risks Bringing Down a President

Pedestrians walk past a mural of former South African President Nelson Mandela in Cape Town.

Pedestrians walk past a mural of former South African President Nelson Mandela in Cape Town.

Photographer: Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg
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So much for “Ramaphoria.”

Cyril Ramaphosa’s rise to become South Africa’s president in February 2018 after winning an African National Congress election two months earlier brought with it a wave of optimism — one so striking that it merited its own name.