Cyril Ramaphosa has been re-elected president of the African National Congress (ANC), securing a second term despite a damaging scandal over a theft at his private game farm.

The 70-year old who is also the President of South Africa beat Zweli Mkhize, a medical doctor and politician who previously served as the Minister of Health, with 2,476 votes to 1,897.

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For the position of chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, a politician and trade unionist, won with 2,062 votes, beating tight competition from Stanley Mathabatha who secured 2,018.

Voting for the top seven highly contested positions was concluded on Sunday morning.

The votes were counted manually.

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Ramaphosa, who was up for re-election, was elected as president in 2017 when he overcame former president Jacob Zuma.

Under the South African political system, Ramaphosa will now lead the ANC into general elections in 2024. Though the party is predicted to lose its longstanding majority, Ramaphosa is still likely to remain as president in any coalition government.

Voting is continuing to fill the 80 posts of the ANC’s national executive committee, but a clear majority of the most senior posts in the party are now filled by Ramaphosa loyalists.

Ramaphosa has made some efforts to reform the ANC and purge corrupt networks that had become embedded over the decade before he took power. He has had haphazard success, and supporters hope he will now be better placed to act against his opponents within the party.