‘If it’s urgent, take it to Mbali.” This is the advice given to ministers and politicians seeking the immediate attention of President Cyril Ramaphosa. Mbali Nkosi, the president’s personal assistant, is known to get things done.
She filters the hundreds of messages he receives, screens people who may want face time with the president and is an effective conduit to the man at the top.
Nkosi, like fellow PA Malebo Sibiya, is said to run a tight ship for Ramaphosa as he executes his role as head of state.
“She knows him. She knows what he tolerates and how he gets things done. If anyone wants anything done, they call Mbali,” said a senior government insider.
Nkosi has been by Ramaphosa’s side for almost a decade, from when he ran his business at Shanduka Group all the way to the deputy presidency and now the presidency.
The ones with the most power around the president are the ones he’s known for a long time
“The ones with the most power around the president are the ones he’s known for a long time,” said one ally.
Long-time aide Steyn Speed was appointed political adviser as soon as the president was elected in February 2018.
Speed has a long history with the ANC as an activist and served as an assistant to Kgalema Motlanthe when the latter was secretary-general of the ANC. He honed his communication skills under Thabo Mbeki’s leadership and later joined Shanduka, where he served as group executive in charge of communications and stakeholder relations. Ramaphosa took him along to the Union Buildings as an adviser when he was appointed deputy president.
Alongside Speed is specialist adviser DonnéNicol, whose history with Ramaphosa goes back to 1991. She was his PA when he was elected secretary-general of the ANC. When Ramaphosa went into business she led the Shanduka Foundation from 2004, and later became a trustee of the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation.
Decisions on behalf of Ramaphosa are often left to this duo, with Speed focused on everything Ramaphosa says in public, on writing submissions on the president’s behalf and reading lengthy documents to advise the president. Nicol concentrates on getting things done.
Nkosi, Speed and Nichol are the trio Ramaphosa relies on most.
Chief of lots of stuff
The appointment of a low-profile ANC elections co-ordinator to the powerful position of chief of staff raised some eyebrows.
Roshene Singh drew controversy at the time because she had been married to minister Pravin Gordhan’s nephew, Ketso. Both Ramaphosa and Gordhan dismissed the assertion made by critics that Gordhan was “running the president” through his link to the new chief of staff.
The job specs of the chief of staff are both vague and varied. Some presidency staffers describe the job as that of the person who makes the president’s plans a reality. Others point to the job as being that of a “powerful diary taker”.
No matter how the job is defined, silent power comes with the position, making the chief of staff the crutch of the most powerful person in the country.
Ramaphosa’s first choice for the job was Nichol, but she did not qualify because she did not have a suitable post-matric qualification.
Those closest to Ramaphosa described Singh as a likable person who may be politically naïve — not filtering meeting requests or shielding the president as he ought to be.
One person with a front-row seat to the presidency said that in the two years Singh had been in the position she has been a diary gatekeeper without any political muscle.
This because she had no experience in government prior to this job, did not enjoy a close relationship with senior presidency officials and ministers, and lacked political gravitas.
Singh’s style is in stark contrast to that of Lakela Kaunda, whose power was legendary, and who did the same job for Jacob Zuma.
There are tales in the corridors of the Union Buildings of the days when Zuma occupied the corner office on the first floor — guarded by a lieutenant ready to risk all for him. Zuma brought Kaunda along from his days as an MEC in KwaZulu-Natal.
The stories about the powerful Kaunda, who ran the most powerful man in the country, bordered on the mythical.
Vusi Mavimbela, a former director-general in the presidency, described a dynamic in which the chief of staff became an embodiment of the president’s authority.
Mavimbela, who Zuma fired in 2010, wrote about Kaunda’s unfettered power in his memoir, Time is Not the Measure.
He detailed his own run-ins with her and how she disregarded all authority or protocol. “It suddenly crossed my mind that Zuma, for reasons I did not understand, was comfortable with Kaunda exercising informal, unstructured authority. What I saw as chaos was perhaps serving a particular purpose. Perhaps I had been naïve in not deciphering that much earlier,” he wrote.
Anecdotally, it appears that Ramaphosa’s two advisers alongside his PAs wield more power than his chief of staff
Anecdotally, it appears that Ramaphosa’s two advisers alongside his PAs wield more power than his chief of staff.
Outside the Union Buildings, Ramaphosa is advised by Bejani Chauke — who was the campaign manager of the CR17 election campaign.
He is known as a strategist and fixer and he successfully managed to get Ramaphosa elected as president of the ANC. He also accompanies Ramaphosa on international trips and negotiates in political circles on his behalf.
Chauke first worked for the former premier of North West, Thandi Modise, and later served as a staffer in the ANC office in parliament.
Legal eagles and other portfolios
On legal matters the president relies on Nokhukhanya Jele, who was well placed in the ANC when Ramaphosa chaired the national disciplinary committee of appeals against then ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema. She led the evidence against Malema that eventually led to him being fired from the party.
Jele had been an outspoken member of the Johannesburg Bar, calling for transformation in the legal profession, and was outspoken in criticising Zuma’s decision to nominate the most junior member of the Constitutional Court, Mogoeng Mogoeng, as chief justice.
When looking to appoint his international relations adviser, Ramaphosa turned to ANC veteran Khulu Mbatha, who had previously served as a special adviser to then president Motlanthe.
On security issues, he relies on Charles Nqakula, the former underground operative who served as Zuma’s political adviser after 2009. Ramaphosa was urged to appoint him as his security adviser because of his background as defence minister and, before that, as safety and security minister under president Mbeki.
As Ramaphosa’s security adviser, Nqakula has played an important role in helping clean up the State Security Agency. On his advice, Ramaphosa announced the re-establishment of the National Security Council, chaired by the president, in order to ensure better co-ordination of the intelligence and security functions of the state.
Trudi Makhaya is meant to advise Ramaphosa on economic issues. Makhaya, who played a prominent role in the Competition Commission, was given the immediate task of overseeing Ramaphosa’s ambitious drive to attract $100bn (R1.6-trillion) in new investment for SA. While Makhaya’s qualifications are impressive, her role in advising the president on the economy has diminished now that Ramaphosa has appointed an advisory panel to assist him.
Professor Olive Shisana is his health and social issues adviser. Her main task is to deal with the establishment of the National Health Insurance system.
Spokesperson Khusela Diko previously worked in the communications unit of Luthuli House.
A new appointment is that of former Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramagkopa, who is heading the presidency’s infrastructure unit.
While Ramaphosa’s political office in the presidency may be a well-oiled machine that plays in the background, there is concern about the exodus of institutional memory
While Ramaphosa’s political office in the presidency may be a well-oiled machine that plays in the background, there is concern about the exodus of institutional memory from the bureaucratic side of the Union Buildings.
The position of director general has been advertised after Dr Casius Lubisi — who served two terms — has decided to quit after his contract runs out in two months.
Zuma had added the role of chief operating officer to Kaunda’s duties and the position has been vacant since she left the presidency.
Busani Ngaweni, who was meant to revive the policy unit of the presidency that once thrived under former president Mbeki, has since left after he complained that the unit was not properly funded. He was chief of staff when Ramaphosa was deputy president.
Invisible functionaries
Situated below the chief operating officer are three deputy directors-general (DDGs) who run the administrative functions of the presidency.
DDG for corporate services Matsietsi Mokholo has been seconded from the department of public enterprises while the DDG in charge of cabinet affairs, Lusanda Mxenge, is also acting COO.
The DDG in charge of the office of the deputy president is Thami Ngwenya, who runs the office of David Mabuza.
As Ramaphosa navigates his way through a precarious environment, facing unprecedented challenges, the people around him are often invisible in political debates.
At the same time, the institutional skills of the presidency are diminishing during a period when his focus ought to be elsewhere.
Only time will tell if Ramaphosa’s tendency to appoint loyalists rather than those with political muscle will prove to be a good call.
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