Cyril displaying great courage

It is a bizarre coincidence that the move by the Hawks to involve ANC secretary-general and Free State Premier Ace Magashule in its probe into the Vrede dairy farm scandal shows, without a doubt, that there are no political holy cows for Cyril Ramaphosa when it comes to dismantling the state capture web.

The Hawks raid yesterday on Magashule’s Bloemfontein offices is more proof that the crime-fighting unit is now finally doing its job after years of inaction while its bosses ducked, dived and protected President Jacob Zuma, who is at the heart of state capture allegations.

Yet, the Hawks would not have moved had they not been sent a clear political signal that nobody is immune to investigation. That clear signal would have come from Ramaphosa who has, in the past two weeks, sent a clear message that he will honour the commitments he made when campaigning for the post of ANC president – to tackle corruption and state capture.

It also indicates that supporters of Zuma – who made a lot of angry comments in the wake of Ramaphosa’s victory in the ANC presidential race and the defeat of Zuma’s anointed successor, Nkosazana DlaminiZuma – are steadily losing ground.

Former Zuma lackey and apparently “captured” Minister Malusi Gigaba seems to have turned his back on his old patron and is now firmly walking at the side of Ramaphosa, his “rehabilitation” well under way.

Other anti-Ramaphosa elements have been muted in recent weeks … as one would expect of politicians who can now see which way the wind is blowing.

Nevertheless, in taking on the wily Magashule – who presided over more than R220 million of state money being funneled to the phony Gupta-run dairy farm – Ramaphosa has guts.

And it is courage we need to defeat the demons of corruption.