Cyril will steer SA to safety
Ithought our president executed himself brilliantly at the State of the Nation address — far better than any of his predecessors. Cyril Ramaphosa stepped in at a time when our country’s resources were shamelessly looted by Jacob Zuma and his son, supported by his band of corrupt ministers. The government was run remotely by the Gupta brothers from Saxonwold, who treated this country like their personal property.
The common accusation by Ramaphosa’s critics is that he was in government when Zuma was looting the state and did nothing about it.
What his critics fail to understand is that a deputy president is merely a figurehead with no power at all.
In the ANC’S national executive committee under Zuma, Ramaphosa was outnumbered by Zuma’s powerful, corrupt lackeys. If he took a chance and went against Zuma, he would have been fired by Zuma, just as he did Pravin Gordhan.
Ramaphosa spoke about the future when he mentioned the fourth industrial revolution.
He stated clearly that half our schools would become technical schools, a painful but unheeded cry of many educators for over a decade.
He stressed that our youth must be given jobs through mentorship without the strangling requirement of experience. He has taken the brave step of breaking Eskom into three units to cut costs and produce electricity more efficiently. This was suggested in 1998 by the ANC but the all-powerful unions kept opposing it.
He spoke to big businesses to include small businesses as their suppliers. For poor income earners he proposed a special loan system to make it easy to access loans to purchase property without going to the profit-making commercial banks.
He is going to make available huge tracts of farmable land to new young entrepreneurs to get into farming.
His appointment of Shamila Batohi as head of the National Prosecuting Authority is another indication that the days of the corrupt are over.
He treated the main opposition leaders with respect and charm, rendering both the Democratic Alliance’s Mmusi Maimane and the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Julius Malema totally insignificant.
Ramaphosa’s speech went off so well and so slickly that some of the ignorant in Parliament, dressed for a fashion parade, fell asleep. His speech was above many of their mental faculties.
Ramaphosa has ushered in a strong element of hope and the next few months before our election will determine how serious he is about combating corruption.
If he can get a few top scalps, he will earn the respect of the country and the confidence of international investors — something that the country desperately needs. — Ellapen Rapiti, Cape Town