President Cyril Ramaphosa on recent political developments and media freedom

Cyril Ramaphosa is South Africa’s fifth post-apartheid president.

Born close to the centre of Johannesburg in 1952, he grew up after forced removals in the dormitory township of Soweto. A Christian and black consciousness activist in his youth, he was detained and held in solitary confinement twice in the mid‑1970s. He founded the giant National Union of Mineworkers in the 1980s and rose rapidly in the liberation movement after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

Ramaphosa led the African National Congress team in the negotiations that enabled a transition to constitutional democracy in 1994. After a stint in business, Ramaphosa returned to political prominence fifteen years later, rising to deputy president of the ANC in 2012, president of the movement in 2017, and state president the following year. As president, he has wrestled with intractable problems, including a sclerotic economy and public institutions weakened during the tenure of his predecessors.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the Cape Town Press Club on the importance of a free media and recent political developments in South Africa.

He will take questions.

THIS IS A COCKTAIL EVENT  (cocktail snacks and wine included)

Photo: Daily Sun