Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa

INTRODUCTION: 

Africa has the capacity to develop the necessary wherewithal to become as developed, if not more than China, Russia and USA combined. We bring you short articles on who and what will make this possible. In the articles we develop contexts and interpret them as powerful stories to shine a light on the usefulness of continued peaceful pursuit of freedom, justice, identity, gender and racial equality.

In this particular one we have cast Cyril Ramaphosa as a person at the receiving end of the bare blunt blows of Apartheid. It is the rise of a person who epitomized support institutions which provided opportunities and raised an image of dignity for a people deemed as tools of exploitation  under a Westphalian model of state use/misuse of power. Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa is a metaphor for Black Consciousness whom Nelson Mandela once described Ramaphosa as one of the most gifted leaders of the “new generation” of anti-apartheid campaigners.

Cyril Ramaphosa President of South Africa (1952-)

Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa is a South African politician and the fifth President of South Africa. His tenure as President followed the resignation of Jacob Zuma. He is an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader, and businessman. He served as the Deputy President of South Africa from 2014 to 2018. He was elected President of the African National Congress (ANC) at the ANC National Conference in Nasrec, South of Johannesburg in December 2017. He is also the former Chairman of the National Planning Commission, which is responsible for strategic planning for the future of the country, with the goal of rallying South Africa around a common set of objectives and priorities to drive development over the longer term. 

Anti-Apertheid Activist, A Community Organizer, Labour Unionist & Reconciliation

Ramaphosa is a top-notch community organizer whose skills were honed very early in life as he worked with grassroots. As a union organizer Mr. Ramaphosa, through the National Union of Mineworkers, won mineworkers benefits and better working conditions. Although years later, as a board member of a mining company, he drew criticism for his role in a massacre of wildcat strikers.  Ramaphosa owned responsibility for the rash decisions to order armed forces to shoot and kill the strikers. He pointed out that there were other means which could have been explored to de-escalate the tension.  He has to accommodate newer movements which have spelt objectives perhaps much different from what stimulated activism during the heydays of Ramaphosa. 

Professional Building, Social Justice & The Apertheid Regime

It is common knowledge that a university student or any student must be provided a conducive atmosphere for learning and stimulating inquiry. This is the assumption or expectation many have when one thinks of student life. But, for Black students in the South Africa of 1948-1994 this was not the case. It was the Apartheid Era which gave controlling power to White persons in South Africa over any other race they deemed of lower class. Apartheid did not differ that much from the policy of segregation of the South African governments existing before the Afrikaner Nationalist Party came to power in 1948. The main difference is that apartheid made segregation part of the law. Apartheid cruelly and forcibly separated people, and had a fearsome state apparatus to punish those who disagreed. Another reason why apartheid was seen as much worse than segregation, was that apartheid was introduced in a period when other countries were moving away from racist policies. Before World War Two the Western world was not as critical of racial discrimination, and Africa was colonized in this period. It was made formal in 1948 when Dr. D.F. Malan, the prime architect of apartheid, led the National Party in the first campaign that centered on openly racist appeals to white unity.  So, Ramaphosa was not spared the pains of studying as a Black student in Apartheid Era South Africa. This led him to join, like many students of the time, social support organizations which not only enabled Black students to thrive but to also question the disempowering policies, injustices and other forms of abuses meted by the Apartheid regime. In 1974 he served as the chairman of the SASO branch as well as chairman of the Student Christian Movement. A pro-Frelimo rally at the University in 1974, led to Ramaphosa's being detained for 11 months under section 6 of the Terrorism Act. Following his release he joined the Black People's Convention (BPC), holding posts on various committees. He obtained articles (clerkship) with a Johannesburg firm of attorneys while working for BPC. Because he was pivotal to the unrest in Soweto he was detained again and had to put his studies on hold. After being released, he did and completed his Bproc degree through correspondence with the University of South Africa (Unisa) in 1981. In the same year, he  completed his articles. In 1981, Ramaphosa joined the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA) as an advisor in the legal department after graduation.

In 1982, CUSA requested that Ramaphosa start a union for mineworkers. The new union was named the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)

In August 1982, CUSA resolved to form the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

In December 1982,  Ramaphosa became NUM’s first secretary.

In 1985, Ramaphosa was the conference organiser in the preparations leading to the formation and launch of the Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU) in Durban.

In 1985, the NUM broke away from CUSA and helped to establish COSATU.

COSATU joined forces with the United Democratic Front (UDF) political movement against the National Party government of P.W. Botha.  

Ramaphosa took a leading role in what became known as the Mass Democratic Movements (MDM). 

In March 1986 he was part of COSATU's delegation which met the African National Congress in Lusaka, Zambia.

In December 1988, Ramaphosa and other prominent members of the Soweto community met Soweto's Mayor to discuss the rent boycott crisis.

In 1991, as Secretary General of the African National Congress, he became head of the negotiation team of the ANC in negotiating the end of apartheid with the National Party government.

In 1994, Ramaphosa became a member of parliament; he was elected the chairperson of its Constitutional Assembly on 24 May 1994 and played a central role in the government of national unity.

In January 1997 he lost the race to become to Thabo Mbeki. He resigned from his political positions. 

In 1997, became a director of New Africa Investments Limited. 

In 1997 joined the ANC National Executive Committee.

In 2007 he was re-elected to the ANC National Executive Committee.

In 2012 he became the Deputy President of ANC.

In 2014, Ramaphosa was appointed Deputy President. He was made Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly. During his tenure he continued to promote tolerance between all persons in South Africa.

On 18 December 2017, Ramaphosa was elected the president of the ANC at the party's 54th Elective Conference.

on 24 May 2018 Ramaphosa publicly declared that he would be donating half of his salary (R3.6 million annually) to charity in honour of late former South African president Nelson Mandela.

On 16 February 2018, Cyril Ramaphosa became President. 

Political Unrest & Appealing To Sustainable Development

In June 1976, following the unrest in Soweto, Ramaphosa was again detained under Terrorism Act for six months and this time held at John Vorster square. , and joined the Council of Unions of South Africa (Cusa) as an advisor in the legal department. As a lawyer and General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa, was arrested in Lebowa, on  a charge of organising or planning to take part in a meeting in Namakgale. The local magistrate had banned meetings in the town.

Fostering A Critical Team Player Spirit

He expected to become the Vice President to Mr. Mandela who was president from 1994-1999. But this was not so given the fact that ANC pooled duty bearers from an extremely large well credentialled support base who had been with ANC earlier before Ramaphosa joined.  Prominence of Ramaphosa in the ANC occurred years after the meeting between COSATU and ANC which occurred in Lusaka, Zambia in 1986.  He became Secretary General of the Africa National Congress (ANC) from 1 March 1991 – 18 December 1997. He became Deputy President of the ANC from 18 December 2012 – 18 December 2017. He became Deputy President of South Africa from 26 May 2014 – 15 February 2018. Between 1994-2011, he dedicated time to stimulation of black entrepreneurship. This was an opportunity to show the way to a generation of black South Africans who would gradually control the South African economy. He reached out to white business leaders, but he made black economic empowerment his new issue, tirelessly promoting it and warning that it had to happen. He devoted time in his area constituency as MP and it is known he was key in designing South Africa's constitution as a legislator. He  helped draft new policies to expand a black entrepreneurial class, pushed through a new minimum wage law and respect of all humans a stark contrast from the Apartheid regimes. 

Political Credentials 

When Mr. Ramaphosa re-entered executive politics as deputy president, he had engaged in many high profile political issues as a mediator. During his time as deputy president, he spoke of corruption as “a cancer” and “a monster.”  Yet, it is claimed,  he stayed largely quiet as critics lashed out at Mr. Zuma’s scandal-ridden administration — a sign, to some, that he was too much of an insider to reform the party or the nation. Perhaps one of the reasons was that he had his own controversies in the press too. It is claimed that Mr. Ramaphosa used his political ties to accumulate vast wealth for himself, and over the years, critics have said the program rewarded only a small class of black South Africans with ties to the A.N.C.

Family Background & Family Man

Ramaphosa was born in Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng) on 17 November 1952. He is the second of the three children of Erdmuth and Samuel Ramaphosa. His father was a South African Police officer.  Ramaphosa finds time for his family and being a family person. He has been married to the late businesswoman Nomazizi Mtshotshisa (RIP) a former CEO of Telkom. Nomazizi and Ramaphosa have a daughter. He later married Hope Ramaphosa with whom he has a son, but they separated. He is currently married to Tshepo Motsepe, a medical doctor and the sister of South African mining billionaire. Ramaphosa has five known children. Andile Ramaphosa, 36, the first-born son recently married his best friend and fiancé Bridget Birungi.

Education 

He grew up in the South Western Native Township (Soweto), where he attended a primary school and Sekano-Ntoane High School, Soweto. Twenty years later he joined University In 1971 he matriculated from Mphaphuli High School in Sibasa, Limpopo. In 1972, joined the University of the North (Turfloop) for a BProc degree.  He became involved in students politics and joined the South African Students Organization (SASO) that same year. 

King Maker And Change Maker

In August 1982, Cusa resolved to form National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and in December Ramaphosa became its first secretary. Ramaphosa was conference organiser in the preparations leading to the formations of the Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU). He delivered a keynote address at Cosatu’s launch rally in Durban in December 1985. In march 1986 he was part of COSATU’s delegation which met the African National Congress (ANC) in Lusaka, Zambia.In January 1990, Ramaphosa accompanied released ANC political prisoners to Lusaka, Zambia. Ramaphosa served as chairman of the National Reception committee, which co-ordinated arrangements for the release of Nelson Mandela and subsequent welcome rallies within South Africa, and also became a member of the international Mandela Reception committee. He was elected General-Secretary of the ANC in a conference held in Durban in July 1991. Ramaphosa was a visiting Professor of Law at Stanford University in the United States of America in October 1991. In 1993, the UMass Boston campus awarded honorary degrees to key negotiators Roelf Meyer and Cyril Ramaphosa in acknowledgement of their efforts to accomplish a successful outcome between clashing political parties during the transition negotiations. As a fearless union leader, Ramaphosa built the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) into a formidable force inside apartheid South Africa, growing the NUM from 6,000 to more than 300,000. Taking the NUM out on strike in 1987 was his masterstroke; suddenly the white-supremacy regime came face to face with its worst nightmare. Cyril Ramaphosa was one of the individuals conferred with NUI Galway's Honorary degree because of his commitment to the study and promotion of human rights and global humanitarian law. Each honouree was chosen for his or her outstanding contribution to society through social work, philanthropy, medicine, arts or culture.

Next steps

There is more to Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa which one can find online. For instance, he has a net-worth of $275 million according to Forbes.  We have managed to bring you the above to show you the preparations one goes through to become a change maker. We hope you liked it.

The writer of these blogs is an American Political Scientist. Read more of these blogs please. Thank you.

Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa. Source: Wikipedia

Andile and Birungi. Source:TSA

Ramaphosa and Tshepo Motsepe. Source: TSA

President Ramaphosa during his son's introduction to the family of the fiance. Source: Nation Group

President Museveni of Uganda passing a gift to President Ramaphosa's son's after the son's introduction to the family of the fiance. Source: Nation Group

President Ramaphosa's son's introduction to the family of the fiance. Source: Nation Group

President Ramaphosa's son and daughter of Former Uganda's Prime Minister. Source: Nation Group