Let us reflect on the momentous history we witnessed during the past few days.

Cyril Ramaphosa’s election as ANC leader and the repudiation of Jacob Zuma’s preferred candidate is a great victory for freedom and democracy in South Africa.

Mr Ramaphosa openly campaigned on a message of rooting out corruption and bringing integrity back to South Africa. His victory is a rejection of the ghastly state capture which Jacob Zuma and his cronies have attempted to perpetrate.

I use the word “attempted” because society rose up to defend its freedom and its institutions’ integrity.

The very first gift that God gave the Jewish people at the birth of our nation was the gift of freedom, when he liberated us from Egypt. Freedom is the most important blessing because it is the source of all the other blessings.

When a society is truly free, like South Africa is, it is ultimately able to overcome great challenges. With freedom, light can overcome darkness, and goodness can overcome evil.

Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family —and all those who assisted them — tried to steal our country, but we South Africans used our freedom to fight back.

An independent judiciary restrained the President and held him and those who work with him accountable time and again. The newspapers and other media fearlessly uncovered corruption, exposing it to the light of public opinion and relentlessly pursuing its perpetrators.

Opposition parties held the President accountable in Parliament, attained great victories in last year’s municipal elections and sent a clear warning that the 2019 general election is in play.

Now, the election of Cyril Ramaphosa is another victory in the fight for a South Africa that stands for openness, integrity and good governance.

Let us thank Hashem for the great blessing of freedom and the strength that he has given South African society, a nation of heroes, to stand up to the tyranny of corruption.