Ramaphosa Treads Carefully in Sidelining Zuma in South Africa
- ANC leader says ruling party is nation’s center of power
- Ramaphosa says there are no plans to ‘humiliate’ Zuma
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Less than a month after Cyril Ramaphosa assumed the leadership of South Africa’s ruling party, he’s taking a diplomatic tack as he moves to stamp his authority over Jacob Zuma’s scandal-ridden government.
Ramaphosa, speaking in a television interview broadcast Sunday by Johannesburg-based eNCA, said the African National Congress has to be careful about deciding on Zuma’s future as the nation’s leader before he’s due to step down in 2019 when general elections are scheduled. Amid rising speculation that Ramaphosa will soon replace Zuma, he said he doesn’t want to “humiliate” the president and divide the nation.