Ramaphosa re-elected as leader of South Africa’s ruling party

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(Adds details of re-election, market reaction)

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 19 (Reuters) –

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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been re-elected leader of the governing African National Congress (ANC), an ANC official said on Monday, paving the way for him to contest the presidency again at 2024 elections.

Ramaphosa, who had been widely tipped to secure a second five-year term as ANC leader at a party gathering in Johannesburg, beat former health minister Zweli Mkhize in a two-horse race.

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He secured the most nominations from rank-and-file ANC members and is widely viewed as the country’s most popular politician.

The announcement of Ramaphosa’s victory was greeted by wild cheers from his supporters in the large conference hall.

South Africa’s

rand

, banking stocks and local sovereign bonds made gains after Ramaphosa’s win.

His allies also took top seats in the party, with chairman Gwede Mantashe retaining his position while Fikile Mbalula was elected Secretary-General, who takes charge of the day-to-day running of the party.

Ramaphosa’s re-election campaign was dogged by the “Farmgate” scandal that broke in June involving large sums of foreign currency found hidden at his private game farm.

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Ramaphosa has denied wrongdoing and not been charged with any crimes over the scandal, but it has raised questions about how he acquired the money and whether he declared it.

Mkhize was health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic, until Ramaphosa put him on special leave last year over after allegations his department irregularly awarded contracts to a communications company controlled by his former associates.

Mkhize has denied wrongdoing over the contracts.

He campaigned for the ANC leadership during the party’s last leadership contest in 2017, losing out to Ramaphosa. (Reporting by Kopano Gumbi, Alexander Winning and Tim Cocks; Additional reporting by Nqobile Dludla and Wendell Roelf; Editing by James Macharia Chege and Toby Chopra)