SOUTH AFRICA
New Page, Same Script
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is walking a tightrope as he seeks to distance his ruling African National Congress party from his ousted predecessor, Jacob Zuma.
In a cabinet reshuffle this week, Ramaphosa reinstated Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister, undoing a controversial Zuma decision that roiled financial markets in late 2015, Bloomberg reported. And he put Pravin Gordhan, another finance minister fired by the former ANC leader, in charge of six of the biggest state companies – all of which face dire financial straits and graft allegations.
But he retained a number of Zuma loyalists, highlighting the difficult task of reforming the party that has dominated South African politics since the end of apartheid. And on Tuesday ANC members of parliament backed a motion from the radical left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party to change the constitution to allow the government to transfer land owned by white South Africans to black citizens without paying the former owners any compensation, Reuters said.
Critics say the scheme ignores a key problem: many farms already transferred to black farmers are now fallow and unproductive.
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