Open letter to the president

It baffles the mind how Ramaphosa speaks of ‘nine wasted years’ when, he was in the belly of the beast

AT THE outset let me categorically state that I hold your office in high regard, and respect you as our head of state and government. It is out of this respect that I write you this letter.

An utterance attributed to you in Davos, that you spoke of “nine wasted years” under former president Jacob Zuma, has taken me aback, with a sense of shock, as it was said with a very opportunistic view to distance yourself from the grave realities of those years, particularly for the poor majority, as we saw everything from grand-scale corruption to the collapse of the economy to state capture.

All this time, sir, you were a part of the system. You served in the Zuma ANC national executive committee. Not a word came from you. Instead, those who challenged Mr Zuma,

namely Julius Malema and Co, were expelled from the ANC under the auspices of the disciplinary processes that you chaired.

When Mr Kgalema Motlanthe launched his campaign against Mr Zuma for the ANC presidency, you were quick to join the Zuma slate, which delivered you as deputy president of both the ANC and South Africa.

You, sir, became the right-hand man of Mr Zuma, and leader of government business in our Parliament.

It therefore baffles the mind how you can speak of “nine wasted years” when, to all intents and purposes, you were in the belly of the beast, which was the Zuma administration.

In all those years, not once did we hear even a squeak, until it became politically and ambitiously expedient for you as you launched your own campaign for the ANC presidency.

Motion after motion of no confidence that came before Parliament against Mr Zuma, you shot them down, choosing Mr Zuma over South Africa at least eight times.

Mr President, the office you occupy represents the best of this country I love and you love; and out of it we expect honesty and integrity.

That honesty and integrity is what is required of you when you speak of “nine wasted years”; that it was in those years that you and the ANC aided and abetted the Zuma years.

Whatever the seriousness of the implications of the Zuma shortcomings, you were on the side that spoke of “collective responsibility”.

You cannot shirk that truth now because it is electorally compromising. Mr President, the truth is that during those “nine wasted years” you stood on the side of the one wasting South Africa away, not on the side of the victims of the waste: the people.

The pain inflicted on the body politic of our country, and our economy, during the “nine wasted years” cannot be quantified, and it gained traction daily because those who were in positions to rein in the Waster-in-chief kept quiet for their political survival.

Mr President, in the year you seek election into office by millions of South Africans, remember that they too will judge you harshly for your complacency and for merely standing by as a spectator, for nine years, when billions of hard-earned South African rand were siphoned, laundered and looted from the public’s coffers.

Mr President, if you are to speak of “nine wasted years”, please be bold in your convictions of leadership and own your complicity in the waste you speak of. During those years you stood by for all nine of them.

Now is the time for South Africa to see if you have what it takes to stay on for a further nine. Yours in politics.