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Johannesburg. – It’s not often that a political opposition leader is so positive about his or her ruling counterpart.
But Mmusi Maimane, leader of South Africa’s main opposition party the Democratic Alliance (DA), is keen to praise the appointment of new President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“I wish him well, I hope he succeeds at his job,” Maimane told CNBC in an interview last week.
Ramaphosa assumed office last month after South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) finally loosened scandal-ridden former President Jacob Zuma’s grip on power.
Ramaphosa legitimises South African politics, Maimane explained.
“I’m glad that (Ramaphosa has) been elected because suddenly we can contest on the terrain of policy,” he said.
Maimane himself is the charismatic black chief of a party traditionally associated with South Africa’s white minority population.
Elected to the leadership in 2015, he is known for his youth and skill as an orator.
Despite the ANC’s stronghold on South African politics since 1994’s first election after the ending of apartheid, the DA has made gains with each vote, most recently winning nearly 27 percent of the electorate in 2016’s local government elections.
“Maimane benefits from his age (he is 37) in a country where younger voters (the fastest-growing political constituency) increasingly are disillusioned with the older generation of politicians, who they feel are detached from the issues younger people face,” William Attwell, practice leader for sub-Saharan Africa at advisory firm Frontier Strategy Group, told CNBC via e-mail.
Maimane’s sanguine outlook on Ramaphosa’s leadership extends to the president’s picks to run South Africa’s economy, as announced in a cabinet reshuffle in late February.
New Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene is “excellent,” while Pravin Gordhan, who is to head the Department of Public Enterprises is capable of doing an “admirable job for South Africa,” he said.
Both Nene and Gordhan have previously served as finance ministers. But, Maimane added the caveat that “they need to have the freedoms to be able to achieve what they need to achieve.”
Zuma’s tenure as president was plagued by corruption scandals, all while the country’s once promising economy struggled. According to data out last month, unemployment was measured at 26,7 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, with nearly 31 percent of black South Africans between 15 to 24 not in education, employment or training. – CNBC.com
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