NYTimes Editorial, Feb. 14

Jacob Zuma finally succumbed to growing pressure from the African National Congress and resigned as South Africa’s president on Wednesday. Once a hero of the resistance to apartheid, Mr. Zuma became increasingly embroiled in sordid corruption scandals, prompting the A.N.C. to elect another leader and to effectively force Mr. Zuma out of office.

That done, the question now is whether the A.N.C., the party of Nelson Mandela, which has had a near-monopoly on South African politics since the end of minority rule, can cleanse and revive itself under Cyril Ramaphosa, its new leader, who is now all but certain of being elected the nation’s president by Parliament. Mr. Ramaphosa, a onetime labor leader and protégé of Mr. Mandela who made a fortune in business and leads the party’s reformist wing, was elected president of the A.N.C. in a hotly contested election in December [....]

There is nothing to regret in Mr. Zuma’s fall. Though he spent time in prison with Mr. Mandela and in exile, on coming to power he succumbed to the sordid lure of power’s perks and now faces multiple accusations of corruption and other unethical behavior [....]