Taking a leaf out of Franklin D Roosevelt’s book
He’ll have to challenge and defy the world he has come to know
Franklin D Roosevelt, despite the fact that Wall Street backed him and that he was a descendant of prominent business families of his day, was considered one of the people to be the hardest on corporate America. He took on monopolies and steered the country into superpower status by the time of his death seven months before the end of World War 2. The America he led was still in the grip of the Great Depression of the 1930s, caused by the very same class that backed his ascension. He would also lead the country through the greatest global conflict of all time that was World War 2. While Cyril Ramaphosa doesn’t have the early advantages that Roosevelt had, there’s no denying that in the years since democracy he has been favoured by South Africa’s business elite and has been part of very few success stories in the country’s attempts at transforming the economy. Outside of the rough and tumble of the ANC, it wasn’t as cold for him as it was for many of his comrades that had fallen out of favour. His return to its inner sanctums, when accepting the nomination to become deputy of former party and state president Jacob Zuma in 2012, wasn’t one based on the need for the creature comforts that high political office offers.
Ultimately, his return has been about a belief that he could lead both his party and country, and do so better than his predecessor. It’s a gamble that has paid off.
Now that he is here, we are waiting to see what type of leader he will become, and whose path he will choose in bringing social justice, by dealing with the issues of distribution of wealth, opportunity and privilege in South African society. These are structural fault lines that simply can’t be glossed over. Prioritising the empowerment of black people, women and young people must form a central theme of his presidency, all the while getting South Africa motoring again.
In doing so, he’ll have to challenge and in some cases defy the world he has come to know. Apart from the various boardrooms he has chaired in his life, he also has a history in the union movement that brought him to national acclaim during the 1987 gold sector strike. Perhaps of all ANC leaders, he is best placed to build a working relationship between the government, business and labour to reach the goals set out in the National Development Plan. His ascension has been accompanied with showers of confetti by these sectors, but he’ll have to be ready to bruise some rather large egos in the years to come.
In forging a healthier path for the country, a hard deal has to be struck between his administration and his former circles. There are easy victories in striking this deal — the ousting of ministers such as Mosebenzi Zwane being just one that would get his old peers in the mining sector applauding.
But in some cases, much like Roosevelt, he is going to have to take a hard line against businessmen that have also contributed to South Africa’s economic slide over the past decade.
Roosevelt broke up the monopolies of old that once dominated the US — and which have returned as yet another problem in the world’s biggest economy in more recent times. It was a cornerstone of his economic policy.
If Ramaphosa’s presidency is to be remembered, and quoted alongside that of Nelson Mandela, he has to find his “Roosevelt” moment.
When Jacob Zuma rose to power, Zwelinzima Vavi, the former Cosatu leader, called for the former president to follow the success of Brazil’s president and have his “Lula” moment. In hindsight, it wasn’t that great a moment, and a Zuma presidency and nobility aren’t words to be used in the same sentence.
So just maybe my call for Ramaphosa to be inspired by another man’s moment is to place a bit of a jinx on him. But if he is to surprise all his naysayers, he’ll have to overcome the same perceptions that
I’m sure Roosevelt faced as a perceived insider of monopoly capital.