South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has appointed Defence Minister, Angie Motshekga as the country’s acting president.
Naijaonpoint learnt that the announcement, made on Wednesday by the South African presidency, explained that the decision was taken in line with Section 90(1) of the 1996 Constitution, which allows for the delegation of presidential powers when both the president and deputy are unavailable.
President Ramaphosa departed for Ireland on Wednesday on an official visit. Ireland is one of the guest countries to the G20 bloc, currently chaired by South Africa, alongside Nigeria, Egypt, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.
He is also scheduled to attend the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, is also out of the country. He was in Dakar, Senegal, on Tuesday to participate in the 2025 Invest in Senegal Forum.
On Wednesday, he arrived in South Sudan in his capacity as presidential special envoy to push for progress in the country’s fragile peace process.
With both leaders abroad, Ramaphosa mandated Motshekga to oversee the presidency in their absence until their return.
Naijaonpoint understands that the situation, however, has not been quite the same in Nigeria.
Last October, President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima were out of office simultaneously. Tinubu was on a two-week vacation in the United Kingdom (UK), while Shettima travelled to Sweden for an official visit.
It was the second time that both leaders were concurrently absent from the country, which sparked criticism from citizens about the duo’s absence.
But the presidency dismissed concerns about a leadership vacuum, citing the law, which, it said, does not require either the president or the vice-president to be physically present in Nigeria to perform their constitutional duties.
© 2025 Naijaonpoint, a division of NOP Media Inc. Contact us via [email protected]