Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa and of the African National Congress (ANC) party, gives closing remarks as South Africa’s governing ANC party concludes a national policy conference at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, July 31, 2022. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 19 (Reuters) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been re-elected leader of the governing African National Congress (ANC) at a party leadership contest, an ANC official said on Monday.

Ramaphosa had been widely tipped to secure re-election for a second five-year term as ANC leader at the five-day gathering being held in the country’s biggest city Johannesburg.

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

But his 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.

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.

This is a developing story…

(Reporting by Kopano Gumbi, Alexander Winning and Tim Cocks; Additional reporting by Nqobile Dludla and Wendell Roelf; Editing by James Macharia Chege)

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