Ramaphosa must act on JZ

THE election of Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed Jacob Zuma as ANC president in December gave the citizens of our country a renewed sense of hope – optimism that the challenges facing us will soon be over.

This kind of excitement was still palpable when Ramaphosa took to the stage during the ANC’s birthday celebrations held in our backyard last month. It was at the Buffalo City Stadium where he assured ANC supporters – and the millions who were watching from home – that things would be done differently at Luthuli House.

Basically, he told all of us that there was a new sheriff in town, and we believed him.

Not only did the ANC birthday programme start on time, but following his election at Nasrec, we witnessed the proverbial new broom sweeping clean. Suddenly Eskom was put on the right path with the appointment of a credible board. The Hawks finally found their missing claws and went after the Guptas and their friends. Even the powerful, like the new ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, were not spared when the Hawks went to raid government offices in the Free State where Magashule is still the premier. All of this happened before Ramaphosa stepped into the big office at the Union Buildings. For a moment he seemed like the biblical messiah, coming to save us.

This is why Ramaphosa’s handling of the ANC decision to fire Zuma has been most disappointing. Basically he has allowed Zuma to dictate the terms of his departure.

This makes no sense as the ANC has made it clear that they no longer have faith in Zuma and that his mismanagement of our government should not be allowed to continue any longer. We now know – based on the leaked recording of ANC treasurergeneral Paul Mashatile – that the ANC national working committee (NWC) recommended, at its meeting on Monday, that Zuma be “recalled”. This recommendation was to be presented to the decision-making national executive committee on Wednesday and Zuma’s fate would have been sealed.

Instead, Ramaphosa met with Zuma on Tuesday and postponed the NEC meeting to a later date without revealing much about their one-on-one meeting. He released a muted statement which said that his discussions with Zuma “were constructive and lay the basis for a speedy resolution of the matter in the interests of the country and its people”.

A speedy resolution would have been firing Zuma this week. As if to raise his middle finger to South Africans, Zuma has already communicated his government work diary for this weekend.

He does not look like he is in a hurry to leave. On the face of it, it looks like Zuma is still the man in charge while Ramaphosa appears like the pliant deputy he has always been over the past four years.

This sends a very negative message about our possible future president.

We are at a stage in our country where decisive leadership is badly needed. Ramaphosa’s dilly-dallying inadvertently emboldens a man who’s political career is as good as dead. Ramaphosa must prove that he is capable of walking the talk and end the confusion soon.