Thumbs up for Ramaphosa’s honeymoon

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA has been our president for just over 100 days and it has become an established practice to use this landmark as a measure of a politician’s performance.

Most South Africans would agree that Ramaphosa has passed this first test, and there is a sense of movement after years of stagnation and a lack of political will to address the vast number of problems besetting us.

An Ipsos poll found that 79% of respondents felt that Ramaphosa is doing a good job as president, and his Thuma Mina campaign has done well to connect with the public.

Addressing journalists at Tuynhuys on Thursday, Ramaphosa said he had not realised the extent of the rot of state capture, and thanked the media for its role in exposing the corruption the previous administration failed to acknowledge.

Now that it has at last been recognised, a massive job lies ahead to put right what is so clearly wrong.

It is a concern that the Zondo (Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo) commission has taken so long to get off the ground, but at least there is movement.

Of course it is imperative that the commission not rush, but work thoroughly to ensure that those responsible for state capture and corruption, which set us back decades, are brought to book.

The job for the president is huge and Ramaphosa cannot do it alone. So, it is also gratifying to see members of his cabinet taking vigorous action in their particular portfolios and here one can highlight the work of Pravin Gordhan in dealing with the rot in Public Enterprises.

Hopefully their actions will encourage Parliament itself to step up to the mark and meet its long-neglected responsibilities.

We wish President Ramaphosa well in the hundreds of days that lie ahead and urge him not to allow the movement that he has created to lose impetus.