A crucial moment for ethical leadership in SA

THIS AFTERNOON, President Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to address the Discovery Leadership Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

The important summit will be addressed by leaders and top global figures, including ex-US president Bill Clinton; former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton; celebrated British economist Lord Jim O’Neill; one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth, Professor Clayton Christensen; Naspers chairperson Koos Bekker and the former chief executive of the Investec group, Stephen Koseff.

For obvious reasons, all eyes will be on Ramaphosa’s speech, together with the addresses by the Clintons.

But the attention fixed on Ramaphosa will not be about what his presidency has achieved – but on how he plans to act against Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba.

Yesterday, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane made a damning recommendation that Ramaphosa take action against Gigaba for violating the Constitution by lying under oath in the Fireblade Aviation matter.

In December last year, the Pretoria High Court ruled that Gigaba had lied about his agreement with the Oppenheimers in a judgment relating to the wealthy family seeking an order from the court to force him to implement a decision he allegedly made allowing Fireblade to manage immigration and customs at OR Tambo International Airport in Joburg.

Ramaphosa has 14 days to take action against Gigaba. It is not the first time a court has found that a minister serving in Ramaphosa’s Cabinet lied under oath.

The Constitutional Court recently ruled that the National Prosecuting Authority should consider charging Minister in the Presidency Bathabile Dlamini with perjury for lying under oath.

Ramaphosa has not taken action against Dlamini, despite the fact that her conduct flies in the face of the “New Dawn” – a dawn that is supposed to be anchored on ethical leadership.

How Ramaphosa acts on both Gigaba and Dlamini – adjudged liars by courts – will signal if indeed he is serious about ethical leadership.

Will Ramaphosa choose to tiptoe around the two senior ANC figures, who enjoy support in a grouping known to be opposed to him?

We hope to hear from today, when he addresses the summit.