Ramaphosa will battle with ANC broom
IFOUND myself inside Kimberley’s Mittah Seperepere Convention Centre two weeks ago, attending a gala dinner where Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was the guest of honour. The event was hosted by Northern Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas. You may remember her fast food scandal, when, during her first 10 weeks in office, she used her official credit card to buy more than R50,000 worth of takeaways.
You know you are in for a long, dreary night when the MEC for local government doubles up as the evening’s auctioneer, as Alvin Botes did. He must have spent about an hour on stage laughing at his own jokes, but managed to raise R1m nonetheless, palming three paintings off to local business people. Botes kept joking about the aim of the event, which he called the “premier’s fundraising dinner”, whose proceeds would go to a “not-for-profit organisation (NPO) of her choice”. He later became much clearer when he said the recipient organisation was a “broad church”. Attendants parted with real money to be seen in the company of Ramaphosa — it cost between R50,000 and R300,000 a table. As undesirable as it is, the abuse of public time, money and other tools to raise money for the perpetually broke “NPO that is a broad church” is almost inevitable in a case like ours. That is more so at the lower tiers of government, where the likes of Lucas run fiefdoms without being questioned much by opposition parties, the media or civil society.
Ramaphosa’s fans, especially in the business world, believe he will be able to make a big difference if he becomes president.
This belief is understandable. He comprehends the issues President Jacob Zuma does not, from wealth-creation and management to what stifles business and economies and what makes them tick. The assumption is that all our problems will be solved once Zuma packs his bags for Nkandla — or becomes a guest of the state.
I understand Ramaphosa knows exactly what he would do once he gets there. He is a sophisticated, well-travelled politician, who reads a lot, and has an amazing ability to follow details and offer sharp, pragmatic solutions. I am told he admires some of the recent leadership transitions in China, and how they led to political reform and better management of the economy.
Muhammadu Buhari’s moves in Nigeria are encouraging signs of what can happen when there’s a new sheriff in town. I ask, however: would Ramaphosa be able to do what Buhari did when he took over — stare down his own comrades, reject their suggested cabinet and appoint his own, supposedly less corrupt, team?
Ramaphosa may believe that will be easypeasy, but it’s not. I say that because the likes of Lucas, and others in the most dominant faction, such as Ace Magashule, David Mabuza, Collen Maine and Bathabile Dlamini, will determine who becomes the next African National Congress (ANC) president. And they will pack the ANC national executive committee, from which ministers are largely chosen, with like-minded people: politicians who don’t know the difference between party and state. Most importantly, they would not know where to start rejuvenating a doddering economy.
Transforming the state as a precondition to improving the economy and society requires political will and a large body of skilled people at party and government level. It is naive to believe that the next head of state in SA will lead to marked change in the government’s approach to the economy without first transforming the governing party itself to make it appealing to the country’s intelligentsia once again.