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Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa was born on 17 November 1952 in
Johannesburg. His family was moved from Western Native Township to
Soweto in 1962, where he attended Tshilidzi Primary School. He
completed his high school at Mphaphuli High School in Sibasa, Venda
in 1971.
He began his studies at the University of the North in 1972, where
he became involved in student politics, joining the South African
Student Organisation (SASO) and the Black Peopleˇ¦s Convention (BPC).
He was detained in 1974 for organising pro-Frelimo rallies that
were held to celebrate the independence of Mozambique. He was
detained for the second time in 1976 following the Soweto student
uprising.
He became the first general secretary of the National Union of
Mineworkers in 1982. In 1991, he was elected African National
Congress (ANC) Secretary General and subsequently became head of the
ANC team that negotiated the transition to democracy. Following the
countryˇ¦s first democratic elections in 1994, he was elected
chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly, which wrote South
Africa's new democratic constitution.
He moved into the private sector in 1996, and in 2001 founded
Shanduka Group. Ramaphosa holds a law degree from the University of
South Africa. He has received several honorary doctorates from local
and international universities. He received the Olof Palme prize in
Stockholm in 1987 and was included among the Time 100 Most
Influential People in the World in 2007. He was awarded the National
Order of the Baobab in Silver in 2009 for his contribution to the
multiparty negotiations and for chairing the Constitutional
Assembly. He was also the deputy chairperson of the National
Planning Commission.
In December 2012, he was elected ANC Deputy President. He was
appointed Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa on 25 May
2014.
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