‘Ramaphoria’ cracks are widening
In Tuesday’s editorial entitled DA accusations of Cyril unfair, it is declared that Mmusi Maimane’s take on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s first 100 days in office was “harsh” – and that Ramaphosa has brought much change to South Africa since his election on February 15.
The editor has – without realising it – fallen into the unfortunate trap of using former president Jacob Zuma as the bar and the standard against which we evaluate Ramaphosa’s performance. But let us remove Zuma from the equation for a moment, and consider a sober assessment of what Ramaphosa has actually done to bring about change.
He is just that – the president, and the country’s No 1 citizen. We should have high expectations for the person charged with leading our nation. That’s not “harsh”; it’s required.
The fact is, Ramaphosa’s first 100 days have been, at best, underwhelming. He has made a assemblage of small, cosmetic and PR-inspired changes, but the structural changes required to turn our country’s fortunes around remain noticeably absent from his agenda.
So much so that during his first 100 days, StatsSA declared that a futher 250 000 people joined the unemployed ranks. A record-high 9.5 million South Africans are without work. It is going to take more than talk shops, summits and conferences to address our jobs crisis.
His “New Dawn” has left compromised and incompetent ministers such as Malusi Gigaba, Nomvula Mokonyane, Bathabile Dlamini, Aaron Motsoaledi and Angie Motshekga in Cabinet, as he heads one of the largest Cabinets in the world. The fact that under Ramaphosa our government spends more money on VIP protection for politicians than it does on land reform, tells us exactly where his priorities lie.
Moreover, we mustn’t forget that he was in close proximity to Zuma during his time at the helm. He chose to faithfully serve as Zuma’s deputy from 2014, and stood in solidarity with him on numerous occasions.
The cracks in “Ramaphoria” are beginning to widen. Graham Charters – deputy chief of staff in the DA leader’s office