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Cyril Ramaphosa Lawyer, businessman, trade union leader, negotiator and “political crown prince”
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| www.anc.org.za/people/ramaphosa_c.html |
Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (Johannesburg, 1952) is currently one of the leading representatives of black South African entrepreneurialism. In 1996 he entered the business sector and is an advocate of black empowerment in the South African economy.
Ramaphosa was Secretary-General of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1996, after the ban on the party had been lifted. As chairman of the Constitutional Assembly, he co-authored the country’s first democratic constitution. Furthermore, as senior negotiator Ramaphosa led the ANC-delegation which in the early 1990s entered into discussions with the apartheid regime of that time. These negotiations resulted in the 1994 elections and thereby the official abolishment of apartheid.
Although he bid farewell to his political career some time ago, Ramaphosa continues to enjoy great popularity among the members of the ANC. During the last ANC party congress, in December 2002, Ramaphosa received the second highest number of votes after the current Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel.
Unlike many other prominent ANC members, Ramaphosa remained in South Africa and continued to be politically active throughout the apartheid era. Matamele Cyril Ramaphosa grew up in Johannesburg. His father was a policeman who resigned upon the arrest of both of his sons. His son Cyril became a lawyer.
Ramaphosa gained a track record with the trade unions in the 1980s in addition to being active as a student leader at the University of the North. He was jailed twice in the mid-1970s due to his participation in a pro-Frelimo demonstration, among other things.
In 1982 Ramaphosa stood at the foundation of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the largest organisation of mineworkers. He organised the first mass strike of the mineworkers. In 1985 he was involved in the formation of the influential federation of trade unions, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
At the end of the 1990s Ramaphosa became the chairperson of the Black Empowerment Economic (BEE) Commission, which is dedicated to increasing the influence of black entrepreneurs in the former white stronghold of the business world. Arising from these efforts, the BEE Strategy was presented to Parliament in March 2003.
Ramaphosa began his business career with the consortium Nail. Since then, he has penetrated other sectors of the South African economy with his company Millennium Consolidated Investments, including more recently the mining sector. He also holds various top corporate positions, such as president of Johnnic Industrial Corporation and director of South African Breweries.
On the official ANC website his hobbies are noted to include listening to John Coltrane's cool jazz and trout fishing. It is rumoured that the latter hobby resulted in a rapid acceleration of the 1992 discussions between the ANC and the then De Klerk-government. The discussions had stalled after the murder of ANC member Chris Hani. Ramaphosa removed a fishing hook from the finger of the government’s negotiator, Roelf Meyer. This incident resulted in a bond that played a crucial role in the further negotiations leading to the 1994 elections.
Ramaphosa is also active in the international arena as a negotiator. In 2000 he acted as a weapons inspector in the IRA disarmament in Northern Ireland.
Mandela remarked about Ramaphosa in 2001: "Cyril Ramaphosa was the architect of the current South Africa. He led the negotiation team. He made such an impression that friends and enemies still regard him as the man that made the peaceful transition possible. He possesses the requisite capacities and is one of the suitable people to lead South Africa should he wish to return (to politics).”
Ramaphosa himself is silent about a possible return to politics. Nevertheless, the relatively young Ramaphosa could still, in 2009, as Thabo Mbeki’s second term of office comes to an end, declare his candidacy for the presidency.
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