Political circus no surprise
It is questionable whether President Cyril Ramaphosa will survive the broad-based backstabbing exercise that is intensely under way inside and outside the ANC. On top of this, he may not escape criminal charges that would hasten his departure from the presidential stage.
The attacks come from the seemingly semi-senile former president Jacob Zuma or Ramaphosa’s cabinet colleague, the arrogant, narcissistic Lindiwe Sisulu; corruption-implicated former minister Zweli Mkhize; members of the national executive committee such as Tony Yengeni and his radical economic transformation faction allies; and former state security boss Arthur Fraser.
For suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and her obnoxious, insulting counsel “R12m is peanuts” Dali Mpofu; to many others including Zondo-implicated cadres and sidelined ANC members such as Ace Magashule and the rabid racist Malema, it seems that, like Brutus, many political players are lining up to kill off the political career of our globetrotting president.
For them the Ides of March can’t come quick enough, and our all-too-absent and evasive president should know that if enough people are out to stab you in the back, someone or other is likely to succeed — especially if you keep turning your back on them.
South Africans should not be surprised at this destructive political circus. After all, it mirrors the puerile political pantomime that is playing out in our metros, where councillors waste taxpayers’ money and ignore their civic obligations in favour of greedily and corruptly grabbing personal political power and individual enrichment.
To rid ourselves of this self-serving, incompetent and dishonourable body of politicians, civil society needs to redouble its efforts to enforce real electoral reform and institute an electoral system that guarantees a culture of accountability, service, integrity, dignity and respect within our political establishments, and with consequences for those who fail.
Without this, our body politic will remain our country’s achilles heel and expose South Africans to a long-term continuance of our current hypocritical, shameful and shambolic political environment.
David Gant Kenilworth