Ramaphosa’s sensible stance

President Cyril Ramaphosa is reportedly seeking “common ground on land reform”. What I very much like about him is that he seeks common ground on all issues — an important approach.

When the ANC came to power, due to a combination of outdated ideologies and lack of any depth of application knowledge in most areas, those charged with running the country often tried top-down enforcement, avoiding public and specialist input as far as they could. The result was predictably negative.

Ramaphosa has concluded that trying to develop a rainbow nation with enormously wide differences in population, viewpoints, histories, strengths and needs can’t be successfully handled that way because those whose valid objections are overlooked are then forced to obstruct the development. The only way to build the economy to its maximum potential is to get as many of the involved groupings as possible to sit around a table and listen to (not talk past) each other.

Ramaphosa is not indecisive. He is hoping that segment leaders can behave like mature and wise adults. His long experience on many sides of the economy has surely taught him that unilaterally imposed solutions are often counterproductive with disastrous unintended consequences.

He rightly wants any important topic to be thoroughly aired, hopefully by mature players trying to find each other. You don’t get there with short cuts, by omitting important players or by refusing to listen to other views. This is the only sensible approach.

Roger Briggs

Edenvale