JOHANNESBURG — Our species naturally inclines to the negative. Especially around key moments in the history of a young democracy like South Africa’s. Remember the candle and food accumulators ahead of the 1994 election? Or the forecasts of a Zuma dynasty ahead of the ANC’s 2017 Elective conference? And predictions that SA was going bust and would be begging the IMF for funds? This morning we received a lengthy missive from a long-time Biznews supporter angry that we cannot grasp what a “disaster” it is that Cyril Ramaphosa has been given a mandate to run South Africa for the next five years. And on social media yesterday, DA-supporters used emotion and fear to attack Ryk de Klerk’s fact-based analysis of why a Ramaphosa win would be cheered by the global bond market. But despite hard wiring built over millennia of existential threat, when it really matters, we humans tend to opt for hope over fear. Ramaphosa appreciates this. Relating publicly to Napoleon’s view that successful leaders are “peddlers of  hope”. Helped by the mistaken Project Fear campaign of his opponents, Ramaphosa has won an election the ANC deserved to lose. Now comes the tough part. Cynics say the new ANC boss is all sizzle and no substance. That he won’t be able to cleanse the party and, indeed, is himself destined for the chopping block. They’re wrong. As we’ll see soon enough. Indeed, the ANC’s blunt social media weapon Fikile Mbalula has already spilt the beans on Ramaphosa’s remade cabinet. That is sure to be only the beginning. Hope springs. – Alec Hogg

Ramaphosa has full ANC backing to shrink South African cabinet

By Paul Vecchiatto

(Bloomberg) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has the full backing of the ruling African National Congress to reduce the size of the cabinet after the elections, senior official Fikile Mbalula said.