{"id":26698,"date":"2023-03-24T09:24:58","date_gmt":"2023-03-24T09:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power"},"modified":"2023-03-24T10:47:07","modified_gmt":"2023-03-24T10:47:07","slug":"ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power","title":{"rendered":"Ramaphosa: from national resistance to political power"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span><\/a>Catapulted into the position of secretary general of the ANC, Ramaphosa is at Mandela’s side negotiating freedom for South Africa. In the most dramatic decade in Africa since the independence era \u2013 the 1990s \u2013 Ramaphosa was at the centre of revolutionary change in South Africa.<\/p>\n

He started the era as a socialist trade unionist and ended it as a leader among the country\u2019s new black business elite, with plenty of peaks and troughs in between.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s business and political leaders were now talking to the ANC in Lusaka, and to Nelson Mandela in jail in Western Cape. Ramaphosa had become one of the ANC\u2019s most important cadres.<\/p>\n

At Mandela\u2019s release on 11 February 1990, Ramaphosa was in the reception committee for the revered leader. Ramaphosa went from being the man who held the microphone for Madiba to heir apparent. It looked a surreal elevation for the 38-year-old union organiser.<\/p>\n

Popular with the left and the unions, as well as having the backing of exiled Communist leader Joe Slovo, Ramaphosa was catapulted into the ANC hierarchy at the party\u2019s conference in South Africa in July 1991.<\/p>\n

In his autobiography, Mandela gave this accolade: \u201cRamaphosa was elected secretary general, evidence that the torch was being passed from an older generation to a younger one.<\/p>\n

Cyril was a worthy successor to a long line of notable ANC leaders. He was probably the most accomplished negotiator in the ANC. \u201d The same conference elected Mandela as president and Thabo Mbeki as his deputy. He was probably the most accomplished negotiator in the ANC\u201d \u2013 Nelson Mandela<\/p>\n

Snuki Zikalala, president of the ANC Veterans\u2019 League, tells The Africa Report that Ramaphosa\u2019s promotion was well-\u00addeserved: \u201cCyril was running the engine room of the ANC, delegates felt he was highly competent, a hard worker and the right man to lead the ANC\u2019s office.
\nEarlier, Ramaphosa had emerged as leader of the the ANC delegation at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa from 1990 to 1993 to negotiate the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n

Again, the path hit several obstacles. The worst was the massacre of 46 people at Boipatong in June 1992. The two key negotiators were Ramaphosa and the National Party\u2019s Roelf Meyer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat annoyed me was that Cyril and Roelf would go away on fishing trips and come back and then have a position on a particular matter,\u201d argues De Lille.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis meant that other smaller parties were simply dismissed.<\/p>\n

\u201d While Ramaphosa was negotiating the transition and the choice of Mandela\u2019s deputy was being debated, Ramaphosa was losing his power base in the ANC.<\/p>\n

Zikalala says: \u201cCyril was too young to take over from Mandela. He had to learn how the ANC works. Thabo was a senior leader, more experienced and had a vision for the country.<\/p>\n

\u201d After winning the ANC elections, Mandela asked Ramaphosa to chair the drafting committee for the new constitution.<\/p>\n

After two years of hard-fought negotiations with apartheid-\u00adera politicians and Mangosuthu Buthelezi\u2019s nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party, Ramaphosa\u2019s team produced a world-class liberal constitution that was adopted at a grand ceremony on 8 May 1996. Stung by the pause in his rise to power, just four days later Ramaphosa resigned from parliament and as ANC secretary general.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Catapulted into the position of secretary general of the ANC, Ramaphosa is at Mandela’s side negotiating freedom for South Africa. In the most dramatic decade in Africa since the independence era \u2013 the 1990s \u2013 Ramaphosa was at the centre of revolutionary change in South Africa. He started the era as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":26697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[242,233,246,245],"class_list":["post-26698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nRamaphosa: from national resistance to political power - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Catapulted into the position of secretary general of the ANC, Ramaphosa is at Mandela's side ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ramaphosa: from national resistance to political power\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Catapulted into the position of secretary general of the ANC, Ramaphosa is at Mandela's side ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-24T09:24:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-24T10:47:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679633799.29.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"732\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"419\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ramaphosa: from national resistance to political power\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-24T09:24:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-24T10:47:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power\"},\"wordCount\":556,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679633799.29.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\",\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ramaphosa-from-national-resistance-to-political-power\",\"name\":\"Ramaphosa: from national resistance to political power - 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