South African President Jacob Zuma was re-elected as leader of the African National Congress yesterday but his comfortable victory has done little to conceal bitter divisions in South Africa's ruling party. The win effectively confirms him as president for another seven years after 2014.

The singing and dancing Mr Zuma saw off the challenge of his national deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, taking three-quarters of delegates' votes at the party conference.

The vote also confirmed the return of Cyril Ramaphosa to frontline politics as the party's deputy leader. Mr Ramaphosa is an ANC hero from the apartheid struggle who quit politics to make a fortune in business

Mr Zuma turned to South Africa's richest man in a bid to reassure investors that his rocky handling of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest economy will improve. Some observers question whether the new deputy will do much to reassure unemployed black citizens that the party still cares about them.

Mr Ramaphosa is popular with the ANC's intellectual and pro-business wings but his appointment may anger left-wingers who favor nationalizing South Africa's mining industry.

Mr Ramaphosa who was former head of the national union of mineworkers is on the board of mining giant Lonmin, the owners of the Marikana mine where 34 workers were killed by police earlier this year. Not only did he fail to speak out about workers' rights during the massacre, he had called for police intervention against strikers.

The businessman, whose interests include running McDonald's in South Africa, was among the favorites to succeed Nelson Mandela when he stood down in 1998. However, Mr Mbeki was preferred and Mr Ramaphosa stepped out of the political limelight to concentrate on his business interests.

From The Independent