Ramaphosa has placed the Supra ball back in the NDZ court
Making Dlamini-Zuma head of the task team probing governance in North West was a sleek manoeuvre
The eruption of North West with calls for premier Supra Mahumapelo to vacate office or be recalled by the ANC is a microcosm of the challenge facing President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership.
The crisis in North West very closely mirrors the circumstances that precipitated calls for former president Jacob Zuma to go.
There is a growing consciousness among the South African citizenry of the link between the rot in the governing party and the implications it has for governance of the state.
The Mediosa scandal epitomises the consequences of having leadership that has more regard for their personal benefit than the public interest.
Healthcare is a constitutional right. It is an essential service. To mess with that service also amounts to a disregard for the right to life, as failure to access quality healthcare does, in many instances, result in a loss of life.
It is against this backdrop that Ramaphosa should view his duty to act; and not just to act, but to do so decisively.
Based on his party, the ANC’s processes and procedures, Ramaphosa was seemingly caught between a rock and a hard place when called upon to act in North West.
But once again in the space of a few months the president is demonstrating his ability to innovate.
The cabinet decision to place the North West health department under administration sent a strong message.
Ramaphosa may not have the powers to sack Mahumapelo, given that only the ANC national executive committee has the power to do so, but as president of the republic he does have the power to exercise oversight over Mahumapelo.
Placing under administration a department embroiled in the R30-million dodgy contract with a Gupta-owned company is an unmistakable act of censure against Mahumapelo.
It is a certain show of no confidence in the premier’s leadership.
Mahumapelo has characterised the anger and calls against him as a political plot championed by his enemies in the party, colluding with opponents outside the ANC.
He claims that the plot is on account of his supporting Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as the ANC presidential candidate at the party’s 54th national conference in Nasrec, Johannesburg, in December.
Mahumapelo’s reference to Dlamini-Zuma is, of course, used as a proxy for Jacob Zuma, as was the case at the December 2017 conference.
These allegations cast aspersions not only on factions in the ANC said to support Ramaphosa but also on Ramaphosa himself.
They attempt to cast Ramaphosa’s caretaker presidency as a soap opera saga of his relentless pursuit of his predecessor’s allies “for no good reason”.
Just like the former president, they peddle the lie that every act to clean up the rot is a senseless witch-hunt against noble leaders of the party.
The allegations also put into doubt Dlamini-Zuma’s own integrity.
The continued appropriation of her name as a proxy for radical economic transformation and alliance with those that favoured the Zuma administration raises questions about her loyalty to the current administration.
It is therefore a slick manoeuvre on Ramaphosa’s part to make her head of the inter-ministerial task team that is mandated to investigate governance in North West and report to the cabinet in two weeks.
This move pits her directly against Mahumapelo and his administration because she is obliged to exercise oversight over his leadership.
It places Dlamini-Zuma in the spotlight. Her conduct and performance in this responsibility will expose her.
She is therefore likely to act with the utmost discretion and integrity as this may be where she makes or breaks her future in the ANC after the 2019 general elections.