Cyril Ramaphosa is surrounded in the Union Buildings by his former political opponents, bringing the “unity” ticket on which he won the ANC presidency, full circle. On Monday night he announced former Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza as deputy president, his opponent in the ANC’s elective race Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as a minister in the presidency while her most ardent backer, Bathabile Dlamini, will serve in the presidency as the minister responsible for women. The halls of the Union Buildings will be flavoured with this motley mix of political characters. Dlamini-Zuma is responsible for performance monitoring. Mabuza was seen as a close Zuma ally and had, until the last minute ahead of the ANC’s Nasrec conference, been  on Dlamini-Zuma’s slate as deputy president. But he had long been uncomfortable with the Zuma faction’s proximity to the Gupta family and the potential for further electoral losses which could have arisen from a Dlamini-Zuma presidency. Hence he threw his lot in wit...

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