South Africa: Zuma out, Ramaphosa in

It’s new dawn in South Africa. Jacob Zuma, 75, has taken the final bow from office as President. Sixty-five-year-old Cyril Ramaphosa, former Deputy Chairman of the African National Congress (ANC) has stepped in. 
CYRIL Ramaphosa was yesterday elected as South Africa’s President in a parliamentary vote. He pledged to tackle endemic corruption after scandal-ridden Jacob Zuma resigned on orders from the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
The road back to prosperity and self-respect under Ramaphosa, 65, who became ANC head in December, will be long and hard in a nation still polarised by race and inequality more than two decades after the end of white-minority rule.
Still, Zuma’s departure late on Wednesday, provided evidence of the strength of South Africa’s democratic institutions, from the courts to the media and the constitution.

Ramaphosa, in brief remarks to parliament ahead of his first State of the Nation address expected today, said he would work hard “not to disappoint the people of South Africa”.
“The issues that you have raised, issues that have to do with corruption; issues of how we can straighten out our state-owned enterprises and how we deal with state capture (influence-peddling) are issues that are on our radar screen,” he said.
Ramaphosa was elected unopposed as Zuma’s permanent successor by parliament, and confirmed in the post by South African Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, who had earlier read out the former President’s resignation letter.
It is expected that after taking the oath of office yesterday and his broadcast today, Ramaphosa will make changes to the cabinet.
The rand, which has gained ground whenever Zuma ran into political turbulence, soared to a near three-year high against the dollar on word of his resignation.
South Africa’s main stock market index jumped nearly four per cent and headed for its biggest one-day gain in more than two years as investors hailed Zuma’s exit after nine years in office rife with allegations of sleaze and mismanagement.

Ratings agency Moody’s said it was closely monitoring developments in South Africa, focusing on the policy implications of Zuma’s political demise.
The S&P Global agency said South Africa’s sovereign credit ratings and outlook will not be immediately affected by the change of the country’s leadership.
Ramaphosa, who will be President until elections next year, faces an uphill battle to earn back public and investor support.
But, his stated commitment to boosting growth and stamping out graft has gone down well with foreign investors and ANC members who felt Zuma’s handling of the economy could seriously damage the party in the 2019 election.
Africa’s most developed economy needs faster economic growth if it is to reduce high unemployment – currently at 27 per cent – and alleviate persistent, widespread poverty that aggravates inequality and stokes instability.
The economy, Africa’s most advanced, remains largely under the control of whites who held power under apartheid.
The 75-year-old Zuma said in a 30-minute farewell address to the nation he disagreed with the way the ANC had thrust him towards an early exit after Ramaphosa replaced him as party president, but would accept its orders.
“Zuma did the right thing to resign. Yes, let’s see what Ramaphosa is having for us, thank you,” said Hlengiwe Mswazi, an office worker in the capital Pretoria.
Tshepo Kgobane, also in Pretoria, said: “So it is a good thing that he resigned. We must have a party – a big party. We must throw a party because he resigned. We wanted to see that.”
Zuma bowed out hours after police raided the luxury home of the Gupta family, the Indian-born billionaire allies of the former president who have been at the centre of corruption accusations against Zuma and his circle for years.
Zuma and the Guptas have always denied wrongdoing.
“Defiant in defeat” and “Going, Going, Gone” were among the newspaper headlines that captured Zuma’s unwillingness to leave.
“South Africa’s long nightmare is over,” read the headline from online political news website Daily Maverick.
Julius Malema, leader of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led his party in a mass walkout from parliament yesterday, saying it would not take part in the election of a new president so as not to legitimise an ANC candidate.
The EFF, which has six per cent of the seats in parliament, had sponsored a no-confidence motion in Zuma that would have gone ahead yesterday, had Zuma not jumped.
The foundation set up to guard the legacy of the late anti-apartheid icon and first black South African president Nelson Mandela said Zuma’s departure brought to an end “a painful era for the country”.
“One chapter in South Africa’s political soap opera has finally ended with the resignation last night (Wednesday) of President Jacob Zuma,” NKC African Economics analysts wrote in a note.
“It would be gratifying to see the dedication and purpose the ANC put into ridding itself of Zuma now be directed into rebuilding the economy, dealing with the corruption still residing in the ANC and improving its shoddy governance record.”

ABUJA – In spite of the fact that it did not conduct last Saturday’s local government election in Kano state, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has promised to launch a probe into the circumstances surrounding the incidences of underage voting across the 44 local councils in the state.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/02/inec-probes-underage-voting-kano-lg-polls/

By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA – In spite of the fact that it did not conduct last Saturday’s local government election in Kano state, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has promised to launch a probe into the circumstances surrounding the incidences of underage voting across the 44 local councils in the state. INEC National Chairman, Mahamood Yakubu addressing pressmen on new release of 2019 Election Time Table and Schedule of Activities for 2019 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Elections while at INEC Office Abuja. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan. Though the election was conducted by the Kano State Independent National Electoral Commission SIEC, the federal electoral umpire, INEC had provided SIEC with the voter register used for the elections. But speaking Friday in Lagos at a workshop on the implementation of the Election Project Plan, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said the commission could not ascertain whether or not the voter register it gave the Kano SIEC was used or discarded. He said; “By way of clarification, I wish to state that the Commission is aware of the discussion around the Voter Register and the concern expressed in certain quarters on the possible prevalence of ineligible registrants on the voter register. The Commission is equally concerned for the simple reason that the credibility of an election draws from the credibility of the voter register. The eligibility for registration as a voter in Nigeria is clearly defined in Section 12 (1) of the Electoral Act. This includes citizenship, residence and the attainment of the mandatory age of 18 years. Recent reports of violations by underage persons following the Local government elections in Kano State is deeply disturbing. “It is true that the State Independent Electoral Commission had requested INEC for a copy of the voter register. I can confirm also that a soft copy of the register was made available to the State. The voter register in Kano State is the one used for the 2015 General Election. In July 2016, INEC used the same register to conduct a State Assembly bye-election in Minjibir Constituency which has 78,210 registered voters spread across 126 polling units clustered in 11 Registration Areas (Wards). In that election conducted by INEC, no single incidence of underaged voter was recorded. What therefore happened in the last Local Government election conducted by the State Electoral Commission? Was the voter register actually used or not? “We wish to assure Nigerians that the matter will be fully investigated. A National Commissioner from INEC will lead a team to Kano next week involving technical staff of the Commission drawn from the Voter Registry (VR), Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the Electoral Operations (EOps) Departments for an immediate and comprehensive investigation. We will share the findings of the investigation with Nigerians. I wish to assure Nigerians that going forward, we will interrogate the voter register nationwide in order to purge it of any possible ineligible registrants. “Turning to the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, I am glad to report that from July to December 2017, some 3,978,682 citizens were registered afresh nationwide; 135,127 unclaimed Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were collected; and 166,073 requests for transfers and 334,086 requests for replacements of PVCs were recorded. For the new fresh registrants, the gender distribution shows 58% male and 42% female. In terms of the distribution by States, Rivers State recorded the highest number of new registrants, followed by Delta and Lagos while Kwara, Gombe and Ondo recorded the lowest. The Commission will be posting detailed information and analysis of the ongoing CVR on our website on a continuous basis for public information from next week”.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/02/inec-probes-underage-voting-kano-lg-polls/

By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA – In spite of the fact that it did not conduct last Saturday’s local government election in Kano state, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has promised to launch a probe into the circumstances surrounding the incidences of underage voting across the 44 local councils in the state. INEC National Chairman, Mahamood Yakubu addressing pressmen on new release of 2019 Election Time Table and Schedule of Activities for 2019 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Elections while at INEC Office Abuja. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan. Though the election was conducted by the Kano State Independent National Electoral Commission SIEC, the federal electoral umpire, INEC had provided SIEC with the voter register used for the elections. But speaking Friday in Lagos at a workshop on the implementation of the Election Project Plan, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said the commission could not ascertain whether or not the voter register it gave the Kano SIEC was used or discarded. He said; “By way of clarification, I wish to state that the Commission is aware of the discussion around the Voter Register and the concern expressed in certain quarters on the possible prevalence of ineligible registrants on the voter register. The Commission is equally concerned for the simple reason that the credibility of an election draws from the credibility of the voter register. The eligibility for registration as a voter in Nigeria is clearly defined in Section 12 (1) of the Electoral Act. This includes citizenship, residence and the attainment of the mandatory age of 18 years. Recent reports of violations by underage persons following the Local government elections in Kano State is deeply disturbing. “It is true that the State Independent Electoral Commission had requested INEC for a copy of the voter register. I can confirm also that a soft copy of the register was made available to the State. The voter register in Kano State is the one used for the 2015 General Election. In July 2016, INEC used the same register to conduct a State Assembly bye-election in Minjibir Constituency which has 78,210 registered voters spread across 126 polling units clustered in 11 Registration Areas (Wards). In that election conducted by INEC, no single incidence of underaged voter was recorded. What therefore happened in the last Local Government election conducted by the State Electoral Commission? Was the voter register actually used or not? “We wish to assure Nigerians that the matter will be fully investigated. A National Commissioner from INEC will lead a team to Kano next week involving technical staff of the Commission drawn from the Voter Registry (VR), Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the Electoral Operations (EOps) Departments for an immediate and comprehensive investigation. We will share the findings of the investigation with Nigerians. I wish to assure Nigerians that going forward, we will interrogate the voter register nationwide in order to purge it of any possible ineligible registrants. “Turning to the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, I am glad to report that from July to December 2017, some 3,978,682 citizens were registered afresh nationwide; 135,127 unclaimed Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were collected; and 166,073 requests for transfers and 334,086 requests for replacements of PVCs were recorded. For the new fresh registrants, the gender distribution shows 58% male and 42% female. In terms of the distribution by States, Rivers State recorded the highest number of new registrants, followed by Delta and Lagos while Kwara, Gombe and Ondo recorded the lowest. The Commission will be posting detailed information and analysis of the ongoing CVR on our website on a continuous basis for public information from next week”.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/02/inec-probes-underage-voting-kano-lg-polls/