Time for courage and action:
ONE day, when the history of South Africa is written, three men will be remembered for having sold their organisation, their people and their country down the river.
Those three men are Cyril Ramaphosa, Gwede Mantashe and Zweli Mkhize – the deputy president, secretary-general and treasurer-general of the ANC respectively.
Last week, these three men stood by and watched as Jacob Zuma handed the country to the Gupta family – and opened the floodgates of corruption, looting and descent into hell.
They knew that the cabinet reshuffle, conducted in shame in the middle of the night, had nothing to do with efficiency or improving the government.
They knew that Zuma had nothing to do with the list of new appointees.
They knew that the whole thing was a sham, a con trick, a robbery.
How do I know all this? Ramaphosa, Mantashe and Mkhize told us all that this is what happened.
On Saturday, Mkhize issued a statement saying that “unlike previous consultations which take place with senior officials of the ANC during such appointments and changes to the composition of the national execu- tive, the briefing by the president left a distinct impression that the ANC is no longer the centre and thus depriving the leadership collective of its responsibility to advise politically on executive matters”.
Read that again. Mkhize is saying that the ANC is no longer the centre of power. That means that someone else, an unelected entity, is running this country.
He is saying that the party that you voted for has been usurped by someone else. I have not read anything as chilling as that with regards to my country in my entire life.
A coup, says the treasurer-general of the ANC, has taken place. All he needed to do was add the obvious: the Guptas have effected that coup.
Ramaphosa had confirmed this on Friday, when he said: “It was not a consultation because he [Zuma] came with a ready-made list.”
Earlier on Friday, Mantashe had said: “The cabinet list was developed somewhere else and given to us to legitimise.”
These three are the most powerful people in South Africa.
Basically, when their country was stolen they sat and watched. So now, after reflecting, will they do something about it?
Will they stand up and speak? Will they repudiate this captured administration whose sole intent is to steal from the fiscus and make Zuma, the Guptas and their family rich? Not a chance. In fact, they are going to continue to give Zuma legitimacy.
How do I know? They have told us so. Asked if he would resign‚ Ramaphosa said: “No‚ I will not. I’m staying to serve our people ... I’ve made my views known. There are quite a number of other colleagues unhappy about this situation.”
In his revealing statement, Mkhize said he wished Zuma’s new gaggle of cabinet appointees “well in their new responsibilities!”
What is the man smoking? Mkhize, Ramaphosa and Mantashe are deluded if they think Malusi Gigaba is at the Treasury to drive growth.
He is there to enrich and protect the Guptas and push through a corrupt Russian nuclear build programme. If he is not then let us see him continue with the work of Pravin Gordhan and Mcebisi Jonas in the two court matters implicating the Gupta family. He won’t.
The truth is that there is more integrity in Jonas’s little finger than there is in the entire body of Gigaba.
That is why he and Gordhan were fired. They are good, honest men who want to do the right thing for their country.
Ramaphosa, Mantashe and Mkhize are being cowardly. When the time came for them to show some backbone they have been found wanting.
Zuma has never been more vulnerable. His support in the ANC’s national executive is just over 50% now, with many prepared to jump ship.
The SA Communist Party has told the man to his face that he is a liar and a thief and he should step down.
His support is made up of gangs of thieves in the kleptocratic provinces of Mpumalanga, North West and Free State.
I understand that there are many sensitivities. But these three leaders need to follow Gordhan’s example and show us that “our souls are not for sale . . . our country is not for sale”. They need to stand more clearly, more resolutely and call on the ANC leadership to support them in getting rid of the man who has sold their country to the Guptas.
This week they must ask themselves this: what would the great ANC presidents Tambo, Mandela, Luthuli, Mahabane, Seme, Dube and others do?
They would gird their loins, they would use their voices, they would speak and rage against the dying of the light of our beloved South Africa.
Ramaphosa, Mantashe and Mkhize can redeem themselves.
They must call an emergency meeting of the ANC NEC. They must have one item on the agenda – the recall of Jacob Zuma. They must use every ounce of their being to organise every single NEC member. Then they must bring this to a vote.
Zuma will go. He must go. He is a disgrace to the ANC and our people.
It was not a consultation because he [Zuma] came with a ready-made list