The Man Who Would Remake South Africa
Ramaphosa can win over his country. Keeping the support of his party could be tougher.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa disrupted his election campaign schedule earlier this month to rush to Alexandra township when he learned that residents there were burning tires and barricading roads to protest squalid living conditions. He told them they’d been heard.
“Your message has gone through the whole country, that you are sick and tired of poor service delivery,” he thundered to thousands of cheering supporters in a speech mostly in the Sesotho language. “You as people of Alexandra want people who will serve you better.” He blamed most of the problems on the opposition Democratic Alliance, which has run Johannesburg, including Alexandra, since 2016.