Jacob Zuma's future unclear as ANC appoints new leader

New ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to try and force President Jacob Zuma from office and end his presidential immunity.
Confused and dismayed supporters of Jacob Zuma stood in winded clumps at the ANC's national convention.

Across the hall those who believed that the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as the African National Congress' president represents a break from the corruption of the recent were toyi-toyi dancing with glee.

This was arguably the most important moment in South Africa's ruling party since the end of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela as the nation's president that ended decades of white racist rule.
A victory for Zuma's ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who lost by 179 votes, would have represented continuity - specifically the assumption that Mr Zuma would be able to stay on to the end of his term as president and remain thereafter immune from prosecution and investigation.

That now seems unlikely.

One of Ramaphosa's campaign cries was "bring back our money" - referring obliquely to a widespread belief that the South African state had been "captured" by Zuma and the Gupta brothers, Indian businessmen who have made an estimated £1.5bn since they forged a close relationship with him in the 1990s.

Last week, the Supreme Court ordered that Zuma would have to open an inquiry into the findings of a government report called "State of Capture", written by the public protector.
Zuma opposed the idea and the Supreme Court ruled that he would have to pay his own costs and those of the court, with his own money, for standing in the way of the inquiry.

He also faced 738 charges for alleged fraud and corruption dating back to his tenure as defence minister, but has been protected from prosecution by presidential immunity.

Source:Skynews