CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Cyril Ramaphosa became South Africa’s president with a message of clean government and inclusiveness on Thursday, stirring the hopes of many South Africans that he can reverse a corrosive period of decline and division under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma. Still, the South African rand strengthened Thursday to its highest level against the dollar in several years amid a sense that the new president represents stability and transparency lacking under his predecessor. The ruling party is “incapable of fighting corruption and maladministration from within its own ranks,” said Julius Malema, the opposition party’s leader. South African authorities, meanwhile, said they were seeking to arrest a key member of the Gupta business family accused of securing state contracts by using its links to Zuma when he was president. Ajay Gupta is considered to be a fugitive after he failed to turn himself in, police told South African media.

Source: National Post February 15, 2018 08:52 UTC