BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Cyril Ramaphosa, the fifth and current president of South Africa, took office Thursday in a parliamentary vote. He is preceded by Jacob Zuma, who announced his immediate resignation late Wednesday on orders from the ruling African National Congress (ANC). Below is the profile of the new president.
While running for deputy president of the ANC last year, Ramaphosa advocated anti-corruption, building a clean government, and prioritizing economic growth, job creation, education promotion and land reform.
Ramaphosa was born in Soweto, Johannesburg on Nov. 17, 1952, as the second of three children in his family. In the 1970s, he was imprisoned many times for his crusade against apartheid.
After obtaining his degree in law, Ramaphosa joined the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA) as an advisor in the legal department in 1981, and became the first secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers a year later.
He was elected as the first Secretary General of the ANC in 1991, became head of the negotiation team of the ANC to negotiate the end of apartheid with the National Party government, and participated in the drafting of the South African constitution.
On Dec. 17, 2012, he was elected as deputy president of the ANC, and served as the deputy president of South Africa from 2014 to 2018.
Among other positions, Ramaphosa is known to be one of the richest people in South Africa, with an estimated net worth of more than 450,000,000 U.S. dollars. He has appeared in news media such as Forbes Africa and Bloomberg.
