Despite a devastating incident involving a theft at his own game property, Cyril Ramaphosa has been re-elected president of the African National Congress (ANC).South Africa’s Ramaphosa has been re-elected as the ANC’s president.

The 70-year-old, who is also South Africa’s President, defeated Zweli Mkhize, a medical practitioner and politician who previously served as Minister of Health, by a margin of 2,476 votes to 1,897.

For the position of chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, a politician and trade unionist, won with 2,062 votes, beating tight competition from Stanley Mathabatha who secured 2,018.

Voting for the top seven highly contested positions was concluded on Sunday morning.

The votes were counted manually.

Ramaphosa, who was up for re-election, was elected as president in 2017 when he overcame former president Jacob Zuma.

Under the South African political system, Ramaphosa will now lead the ANC into general elections in 2024. Though the party is predicted to lose its longstanding majority, Ramaphosa is still likely to remain as president in any coalition government.

Voting for the 80 positions on the ANC’s national executive committee continues, but a clear majority of the party’s most senior positions are already held by Ramaphosa supporters.

Ramaphosa has made some steps to reform the ANC and eliminate corrupt networks that had gotten entrenched in the decade preceding his election. He has had sporadic success, and supporters believe he is now in a better position to confront his opponents within the party.