Abstract
Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn in as South Africa’s President in February 2018 after the late-night resignation of Jacob Zuma. His ascendency came in the wake of a bruising battle with Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma that saw him become head of the African National Congress (ANC) by the narrowest of margins. Ramaphosa promised a new dawn that would sweep aside the allegations of the looting of state resources under the Zuma Presidency and restore faith in the criminal justice system. This article firstly looks at the impact that the Zuma presidency has had on South African politics against the backdrop of the Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki years. The article then focuses on Ramaphosa’s coming to power and what this holds for pushing back corruption and addressing the seemingly intractable economic challenges. In this context, I use Gramsci’s ideas of the war of manoeuvre and war of position to provide an understanding of the limits and possibilities of the Ramaphosa presidency. The analysis presented is a conjunctural analysis that as Gramsci points out focusses on ‘political criticism of a day-to-day character, which has as its subject top political leaders and personalities with direct governmental responsibilities’ as opposed to organic developments that lend itself to an understanding of durable dilemmas and ‘give rise to socio-historical criticism, whose subject is wider social groupings – beyond the public figures and beyond the top leaders’ (quoted in Morton, 1997: 181)