In the event of the dismissal of the current South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa involved in a financial scandal, the former Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, is ready to ensure the succession at the head of the country.
Zweli Mkhize, 66, is the only one, apart from Cyril Ramaphosa, to seek the presidency of the ANC, the ruling party in South Africa. This political formation meets next week to determine who will preside over the destinies of the country in the event that it wins the general elections of 2024.
With this in mind, Zweli Mkhize has set up his headquarters in an upscale suburb of Johannesburg. Despite an obvious decline in popularity, “the ANC remains relevant”, believes the one who is part of its National Executive Committee (NEC). Moreover, this doctor by training was among those who decided the fate of the South African president during a meeting last Monday.
Ahead of the vote on whether or not to initiate impeachment proceedings against scandal-spattered Cyril Ramaphosa, the comfortably majority ANC formally backed its leader, making a forced resignation unlikely.
According to Mr. Mkhize, “this meeting was conducted in an unusual and bizarre way. Some members were still supposed to give their opinion but it was decided to close the discussions affirming that a consensus had been reached”. In his opinion, the fact of concealing 580,000 dollars in a sofa “is not trivial”.
However, this former minister himself was removed from the executive about two years ago, in the midst of a pandemic, after being implicated in a case of embezzlement of nearly 9 million dollars within the framework of a illicit contract with a communication company in charge of awareness campaigns against Covid-19.
Top ANC officials have a dirty reputation for excelling in embezzlement, corruption and money laundering.