Today in history: President Ramaphosa is born
Ramaphosa headed the unsuccessful South African bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in London.
Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa was born in Johannesburg on 17 November 1952, the second of the three children of Erdmuth and Samuel Ramaphosa, a retired policeman.
He matriculated in 1971 from Mphaphuli High School in Sibasa, Limpopo and in the following year he registered at the University of the North (Turfloop) for a BProc degree.
He became involved in student politics and joined the South African Students Organization (SASO) in 1972.
In June 1976, following the unrest in Soweto, Ramaphosa was detained under the Terrorism Act for six months and held at John Vorster Square.
On his release, he continued with his articles and completed his BProc degree through correspondence with the University of South Africa (Unisa) in 1981.
In May 1994, he was elected chairperson of the New Constitutional Assembly, a position he later resigned from, together with that of Secretary General of the ANC.
Ramaphosa is the Executive Chairman of Millennium Consolidated Investment (MCI) and the non-executive Chairman of Johnnic Holdings, the MTN Group Limited and SASRIA.
His directorships include South African Breweries, First Rand Limited, Macsteel Holdings, Alexander Forbes and Medscheme Limited.
In August 2012, Lomnin, a company of which Ramaphosa was a non-executive board member, was dealing with an unprotected strike. The strike resulted in the Marikana Massacre that left 34 mineworkers dead at the hands of the police.
In December of the same year, he was elected as ANC deputy president and later resigned from his position at Lomnim.
In 2015, the Marikana Commission of Inquiry cleared Ramaphosa of any responsibility.
Ramaphosa headed the unsuccessful South African bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in London.
He is married to Dr Tshepo Motsepe and they have four children.
Ramaphosa was elected unopposed as President of South Africa by the National Assembly on 15 February 2018, following the resignation of Jacob Zuma.
He took his oath of office in the presidential guesthouse, Tuynhuys and was sworn into office by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.
Source: SA History Online.
