Ramaphosa’s Chance to Rescue South Africa

(Bloomberg) --

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, armed with a fresh electoral mandate, has a window of opportunity to start dismantling the shadow state of corruption that’s been eating away at Africa’s most developed nation.

His new cabinet will reveal whether he has enough muscle in his African National Congress to clear out ministers tainted by the graft that marred the nine-year rule of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

If he can’t, South Africa risks continuing decline: weak economic growth, rampant inequality, worsening unemployment, state companies hemorrhaging cash, and a malfunctioning education system.

Ramaphosa carries a winner’s resume: he co-founded what was the country’s biggest labor union, led the ANC team that negotiated the end of apartheid, and later became one of South Africa’s wealthiest black businessmen.

His main setback was his failure to assume leadership of the ANC even though he was Nelson Mandela’s chosen heir. Twenty years on, he still faces powerful enemies in the party — some Zuma allies — who’ll fight him doggedly.

After his inauguration on May 25, we’ll know if Ramaphosa can set a new course and return South Africa to its more optimistic days when it was known as the “rainbow nation.”

Global Headlines

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What to Watch

• With tensions escalating in the Persian Gulf, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo scrapped a brief Moscow visit and is instead going to Brussels to talk with European officials about Iran, before heading on to Sochi to meet tomorrow with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
• Lithuania’s prime minister said he’d quit and fold up his minority government after he was knocked out of the euro-area member’s presidential election. A crisis-era finance minister and the former chief economist of SEB Bank will compete in a May 26 runoff. 
• Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he hasn’t lost an election in his three-decade career. He’s hoping his candidates for today's midterms will continue that winning streak as voters assess his three years in office.

And finally...Hong Kong's Legislative Council has seen its share of political chaos, with lawmakers ejected for throwing eggs and inserting expletives in their oaths. Still, Saturday's brawl — in which legislators scuffled for 20 minutes and one fainting lawmaker was wheeled out on a gurney — was unprecedented. Tensions are running high over a proposed law that would lift the former British colony's ban on extraditions to China. Fights broke out after the pro-Beijing leadership removed an opposition lawmaker from a key committee post and his allies tried to disrupt proceedings.

--With assistance from Kathleen Hunter, Kitty Donaldson, Brendan Scott and Jason Scott.

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.