South African opposition DA drafts in black leader for election

Anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele speaks at a news conference in Cape Town, January 28, 2014. 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 leader to challenge the ruling ANC.

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