Patience is key as Ramaphosa plays by the rules before ousting the lazy or corrupt
Demands for precipitous action to clean the Zuma stables are misplaced
● Act. Act now.
So goes the chorus of exhortations from the scandal-weary public and general commentariat as they clamour impatiently for President Cyril Ramaphosa to undo the deleterious legacy of the Jacob Zuma era.
The president finds himself routinely called upon to do so much within such a short period, if only to demonstrate that he is fully in charge of our country’s affairs and that there is, indeed, a “new dawn” afoot.
Understandably, given the despicable era from which we have just emerged and the continuing arrogance of those who had grown accustomed to acting with impunity, Ramaphosa has routinely been called upon to execute one miracle after another in the blink of an eye.
Calls for him to take decisive action against individuals who have been accused of all types of malfeasance have grown to a crescendo in recent weeks, and many within the ranks of opposition parties have begun to dismiss the “Ramaphoria” that greeted his election, first as ANC president and then as head of state, as having been misplaced.
Public impatience
First he was expected to recall Zuma from the government immediately after his election as ANC president. When this did not happen right away, Ramaphosa was dismissed — wrongly — as timid and impotent.
Then he was called upon to dismiss Sars commissioner Tom Moyane, without due process, and to move swiftly against the apparently spineless national director of public prosecutions, Shaun Abrahams, before the Constitutional Court had had a chance to pronounce on his appeal against the December ruling by the full bench of the High Court in Pretoria that his appointment was invalid.
Some have also harshly criticised the president for retaining inefficient, scandal-prone ministers. The names of two women — one of them the president of the ANC Women’s League — immediately come to mind in this regard.
In recent weeks, Ramaphosa has come under severe criticism for his failure to deal decisively with Supra Mahumapelo, the former premier of North West who stepped down this week.
Some used very colourful language, describing the controversial and scandal-dogged Mahumapelo’s continued tenure as an indication — some say a confirmation — of Ramaphosa’s alleged timidity.
The president’s early return from the biennial Commonwealth summit in London last month after protests spun out of control in North West had created the impression that he would immediately ensure Mahumapelo was dismissed as premier. The clamour for speedy, decisive action by Ramaphosa, his government and the ANC leadership is both legitimate and entirely understandable, given the depths to which we had sunk as a country during the Zuma presidency.
It is crucial to make every possible effort to undo the mess that came to characterise the Zuma era and to eradicate the widespread culture of corruption that became so deeply rooted.
However, it has to be borne in mind that Ramaphosa is no magician. He has no magic wand that he can wave and, abracadabra, our problems are a thing of the past. We need to keep in mind that given his slim electoral majority at the ANC’s 54th national conference in December, he cannot afford to be seen to be embarking on a witch-hunt against those who were opposed to his rise to the presidency.
It is in his own and the ANC’s best interests for him to do everything possible to weld the disparate factions within the organisation together ahead of next year’s national elections.
More importantly, the president must be seen to be following due process. The aforementioned individuals and their ilk must be seen to have their day in court, or at least a disciplinary hearing.
Such processes take time, and are not within Ramaphosa’s control. He simply cannot afford to be perceived as taking action prematurely against certain people in a gung-ho manner, and then to have that action questioned, criticised or, worse still, reversed by the judiciary.
Only a president with a political death wish would succumb to the deafening public calls to dispense with due process and take immediate and precipitous action against individuals who face serious allegations.
Calm, measured action
Ramaphosa is not that kind of man. South Africans will have to learn to be a little more patient. We have no choice but to allow legal processes — the disciplinary hearing against Moyane, the Constitutional Court case involving Abrahams, and Judge Raymond Zondo’s commission on state capture — the opportunity to run their course.
When presented with guilty rulings against individuals, Ramaphosa will move swiftly to do what needs to be done, comfortable in the knowledge that there will be no comebacks.
Until then, South Africans have a responsibility to furnish whatever information they might have to the Zondo commission and other similar structures to enable them to do their work successfully.
Hanging onto information that would help the commission would be tantamount to sabotaging Ramaphosa’s commendable efforts to wean our beautiful country off the staple diet of corruption.
For its part, the business community must reach out to the president and the government and partner with them in their efforts to rehabilitate South Africa Inc in the global community of nations.
It must be exemplary in its observance of the country’s laws and outspoken in its efforts to lobby for policies that will result in inclusive economic growth.
Nyatsumba is CEO of the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa