SOUTH Africa’s African National Congress has, in giving Jacob Zuma his marching orders and replacing him with Cyril Ramaphosa, shown a capacity for decisive action that many feared beyond it.

Ramaphosa’s narrow victory over Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for the ANC presidency, his supporters’ failure to win a clean sweep of the top six positions and the clear national executive committee knife-edge division into apparently pro and anti-Zuma camps foretold confusion and indecision.

Similarly, Zuma’s initial efforts to string out negotiations over retirement encouraged speculation that he might brazen it out, relying on ANC loyalties to thwart opposition no-confidence motions.