President can put Covid-19 capital to work

President Cyril Ramaphosa has shown immense leadership since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in SA, which is more than can be said for some so-called First World leaders.

His shining moment came on Monday when he announced that SA would be going into a national 21-day lockdown to try to curb the spread of the virus. The president addressed the nation from a lone podium at the Union Buildings. He was calm and measured, sticking to the facts and relying on scientific information provided to him on why the lockdown was the best decision for the country.

At the time of his address the infection rate in SA was 402, three days later and less than 24 hours before the lockdown was to start on Friday, the number had risen to over 900.

It is a pity that others in his executive could not be as measured as he was at their briefing on Wednesday, where journalists were trying to get answers to the many questions the situation has raised. The briefing seemed to cause anxiety at a time when our government should be reassuring us.

The lockdown will continue until April 16, and South Africans will be allowed to leave their homes only under strict conditions. “This is a decisive measure to save millions of South Africans from infection and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people,” Ramaphosa said. “While this measure will have a considerable impact on people’s livelihoods, on the life of our society and on our economy, the human cost of delaying this action would be far, far greater.”

South Africans were impressed with the president, judging from the messages of support and gratitude for Ramaphosa and his dealing with the matter that flooded social media. Some of his counterparts around the world made the decision to lock down their countries only once their infection numbers had reached the thousands and many deaths had been reported. Luckily for SA, at the time of writing there was still no death recorded from Covid-19.

While the spread of the virus in SA is the biggest challenge Ramaphosa has had to face since being elected president, his real test will come when it is all over and time to rebuild the ailing economy. Before the Covid-19 outbreak SA’s economy was already in a parlous state, but because of the measures that have had to be put in place to stem the spread of the virus, it is expected to be even worse than expected.

The national lockdown means most businesses, big and small, are going to have to close their doors for three weeks, and additional money has had to be set aside or raised to cushion the economic effects.

In the two years since becoming head of state, first after former president Jacob Zuma resigned and then as the officially elected leader after the 2019 elections, Ramaphosa’s leadership style has often drawn criticism. He has been accused of being indecisive and pandering to, or trying to juggle, the factions within the ANC.

When the crisis is over we are going to wake up to a very different SA and world, and that is when Ramaphosa is going to have to once again show he is the leader the country needs.

The policy debates are going to have to change. It will be time for Ramaphosa’s government and the ANC to move away from ideology and work decisively to move the country forward.

The president is going to have to change from being a negotiator and consensus seeker, especially within the governing party, to putting the country first. We know there are factions within the ANC that want to see him fail, but with the action he has taken during the outbreak his approval ratings are probably at a high among the broad citizenry.

SIDESTEP

If Ramaphosa wants to keep the support of South Africans, he will need to make hard decisions. If he manages it will be great political capital, as he is likely to seek a second term as ANC leader and president of the country. But it means he will have to work even harder to sidestep the so-called radical economic transformation faction in the party.

The policy debates SA has been thrown into, such as the nationalisation of the SA Reserve Bank or the changing of its mandate, will become the least of our worries. There are going to be bigger economic policies to consider, and these will have to be ventilated and some sort of certainty created.

If the ANC is clever it will capitalise on the leadership Ramaphosa showed during the Covid-19 crisis.

If he can lead SA after the crisis in the same way, the ANC could greatly benefit in the 2024 general elections, based once again on “Ramaphoria”.

It is a make-or-break moment for the country, Ramaphosa and the ANC. But can some in the party see beyond factional battles and selfish interests and put the country first?

Can Ramaphosa stand up to those who try to stand in his way, and do this decisively? We can only wait and see.

For now, as we enter into the lockdown let’s support the interventions put in place by Ramaphosa and his government and ensure we come out of this in a condition that allows for rapid recovery.