SA is going through an unprecedented period of suffering. People are afraid of being infected by a rampant virus that is not only killing their loved ones but destroying what is left of the economy and jobs.
People are hurting, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight to this misery. At difficult times such as these people tend to look to their government or whoever is in charge for direction, action, solace or just reassurance.
Which is why President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech when introducing the lockdown was universally well received. People knew tough times lay ahead and the lockdown was going to heap even more hardship on their already miserable lives.
But they took comfort from the fact that the president seemed to know what he was doing. He inspired confidence. The road ahead was decidedly rocky but we were in good hands. Fast-forward to the present, and the situation is completely different. People feel exposed, vulnerable and defenceless as more and more of them get infected, bury their loved ones and lose their jobs in a faltering economy that seems to be plumbing new depths.
The future looks bleak, and there seems to be no-one to turn to. Ramaphosa, their putative knight in shining armour, it turns out, is the head of a bunch of scavengers. The hyenas — to borrow his own characterisation — are on the prowl. What’s even more disconcerting is that he seems incapable of stopping the feeding frenzy. In fact he’s become the lipstick on the metaphorical pig.
He got where he is under false pretences. In other words, he lied his way to power. All politicians lie, you say. But this is a betrayal. Too many gullible idiots voted for the ANC convinced they were strengthening Ramaphosa’s hand to reverse the depravity of the Zuma years.
It now turns out the power has been grabbed by a grateful Ace Magashule, an unscrupulous rascal who’s not shy to wield it to achieve the very nefarious ends Cyril was elected to put a stop to. Welcome to the New Dawn.
Ramaphosa’s victory over Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma at the ANC’s Nasrec conference in December 2017 is proving to be something of a godsend to Jacob Zuma’s kleptocratic legacy and his now-emboldened followers. After a few hiccups, the train seems to be on the road again.
Ramaphosa’s victory over Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma at the ANC’s Nasrec conference in December 2017 is proving to be something of a godsend to Jacob Zuma’s kleptocratic legacy and his now-emboldened followers
Zuma could not hide his disappointment at the outcome of the leadership contest at Nasrec. His face was a picture of utter defeat and dejection. His world had collapsed. Dlamini-Zuma, a shoo-in in the run-up to the conference, had seemingly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, betrayed, as it turned out, by a duplicitous David Mabuza.
It was clearly the end of the road for Zuma politically and soon thereafter he was prematurely hurried out of office by a party that had stood squarely and solidly behind him amid a vast array of scandals.Ramaphosa emerged from Nasrec like an all-conquering hero, his supporters beside themselves with joy.
He was going to clean the Augean stables. He was going to attack, with gusto and unremitting resolve, the cesspool of corruption that had become the norm under Zuma. All the graft and dishonesty had happened under Ramaphosa’s nose, as Zuma’s deputy.
Forget all that, we were told. He was now emperor of the realm. Ramaphosa was going to lance the boil and cauterise the wound. He was going to turn over a new leaf. It’s almost as though we were meant to believe a new party — not the same lot that had run the country into the ground — had taken over the government.
Fighting corruption was going to be the raison d’être of his administration. It was his selling point, the magnet that attracted people to cast their vote in favour of a corrupt and compromised ANC, beguiled by Ramaphosa’s mellifluous promise that he’d fix it.Some complain that Ramaphosa cops too much criticism. It’s simple: the buck stops with him. Besides, he made the promises.
His feet should be held to the fire. After more than two years in office, Ramaphosa has not only abjectly failed to deliver on his promises, but people have been shocked to discover that the corruption is continuing almost unabated, and our famed corruption-buster seems unable to do anything about it. The looting of Covid-19 funds by ANC types and their families — amid the infections, deaths, hunger and unemployment — was almost like a blow to the solar plexus, and a new low in the history of corruption in this blighted country.
Those involved seem to have no shame or scruples; they are not even concerned about being found out — the result of years of no consequences for wrongdoing. Ramaphosa responded by establishing another committee. He needs to lead. No amount of screaming at the problem will make it go away.
The fact that his members feel emboldened to steal even as he shouts about fighting corruption means they don’t take him seriously. They’ve realised that it’s all bark and no bite. At its recent meeting, the national executive committee spent an inordinate amount of time debating whether party members and their families should be allowed to do business with the government. Ramaphosa lost the argument. The vultures won. His writ clearly doesn’t run in the party.
He’s just a figurehead. Some of its members regard the ANC as their piggy bank. Zuma was criticised for saying the ANC was more important than SA. Now Ramaphosa has said almost the same thing.
Obviously stung by accusations that he’s a coward, he says he’d rather be regarded as a weak president than split his party. His mission, he says, is to keep the ANC united. The party may have changed leaders, but its mission apparently remains intact: to loot and to steal.
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