South African opposition DA drafts in black figurehead for vote

Anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele listen to questions at a news conference in Cape Town, January 28, 2014. Ramphele will run as presidential candidate for the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) in this year's South African election, giving the main opposition party a respected black figurehead to challenge the ruling ANC. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele will run for president for the Democratic Alliance (DA) in this year's South African election, giving the main opposition party a prominent black figurehead to challenge the ruling ANC.

But the choice of Ramphele, which some believe was aimed at shaking off perception of the DA as guardian of white privilege, is unlikely to turn popular support against the African National Congress, which led a decades-long struggle against the racially divisive apartheid system.