How Ramaphosa Pulled the Strings and Toppled a President
The inside story of the tumultuous weeks that gave South Africa a new leader
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Late on the evening of Feb. 4, Cyril Ramaphosa and the five other top leaders of South Africa’s ruling party went to President Jacob Zuma’s Cape Dutch colonial-style residence in the capital, Pretoria. They shared a dinner of chicken, rice, oxtail and salad.
The message was less pleasant: It was time for the 75-year-old leader to go. Zuma, in power since 2009, dug in his heels.