Cyril Ramaphosa set to take over as South African president after Zuma resignation

South Africa’s acting President Cyril Ramaphosa is in charge as acting president until parliament elects a new leader Thursday afternoon following the resignation of Jacob Zuma, the government said.

The 400-member parliament, dominated by the ruling African National Congress party, is expected to select Ramaphosa to finish his predecessor’s term, which ends with elections in 2019.

“The newly elected President will then address the sitting thereafter,” the ruling party said in a statement.

The new president will also deliver the postponed state of the nation address on Friday evening. Zuma had been unable to give the speech because of the leadership crisis.

The South African currency, the rand, strengthened against the dollar in early trading Thursday after Zuma’s resignation, which ended political turmoil that had stalled some government business. Ramaphosa has promised to fight graft, though he faces the hard task of rejuvenating a ruling party whose leaders had supported Zuma for years before finally turning against him.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation welcomed Zuma’s departure but said the state must act against “networks of criminality” that have hurt South Africa’s democracy.

On the centenary of the anti-apartheid leader’s 1918 birth, “there is a need to reckon with the failures of the democratic era,” the foundation said. “We believe that we are at a critical moment in our history, one which offers us the unique opportunity to reflect, to rebuild, and to transform.

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