Politics
South African opposition to field black candidate
South Africa’s main opposition party is to field anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele as its presidential candidate in this year’s election, giving the Democratic Alliance (DA) a prominent black figurehead to challenge the governing ANC.
This is the first time that the DA has named a black presidential candidate in an election, in an attempt to dispel persistent charges the party is a vessel for white interests only. The move comes as Ramphele’s political party, Agang, joined forces with the DA, which came a distant second in the 2009 election.
However, the choice of Ramphele is unlikely to turn popular support against the African National Congress (ANC), which led a decades-long struggle against the racially divisive apartheid system.
A former medical doctor and former World Bank managing director, Ramphele commands considerable respect among the black majority as the partner of Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, beaten to death in apartheid police custody in 1977. But, despite this respect, her year-old Agang party has struggled to gain traction despite growing dissatisfaction among voters with President Jacob Zuma’s ANC, which has been in power since the end of white-minority rule in 1994.
“I can think of no better person to be our presidential candidate in this crucial election,” DA leader Helen Zille told a news conference in Cape Town, before embracing her new political ally.
Changing landscape
Ramphele is also a successful businesswoman who made millions as a senior mining industry executive and alluded to the death in December of Nelson Mandela, the country’s first black president, as a symbol of the changing political landscape. She stated, “I believe this decision is in the best interests of South Africa as we head into turbulent waters…. The death of Nelson Mandela has changed many things for South Africa.”
