Ramaphosa knows he has to go... eventually
President Cyril Ramaphosa won’t go this week, but he will go. In his heart of hearts, he knows he must go, and he knows, too, that he will go. It’s just a matter of time. He is being consumed by the dirty politics he chose to fight “from within the ANC” instead of speaking out against it, even if it meant his ousting from the party.
Ramaphosa, the man who vowed to clean up the ANC, made some hard choices back in 2012, when he opted to throw in his lot with then ANC president Jacob Zuma. At that time, many told him he should not join the Zuma “slate” as the compromised leader’s number two. People such as Kgalema Motlanthe, who enthusiastically rooted for Zuma in 2007, had been appalled by the man’s corruption and were, by 2012, calling for good men and women to stand against the Nkandla leader’s corrupt government. Ramaphosa chose a different path. Instead of condemning Zuma, he chose to hunt with that hound. So, in the run-up to the ANC’s 2017 conference, the Ramaphosa campaign team raised money (just like the Zuma team on behalf of Nkosazana DlaminiZuma allegedly did) to bus in delegates and pay for their enjoyment. Just like the Zuma team did.
By doing so, Ramaphosa managed to beat the Zuma team at its own game. He won the party presidency, by a handful of votes. ANC campaigning between 20072017 was corrupt. Money was king. Delegates were remunerated and bribed to vote in favour of wellheeled contestants. No one was exempt. That is why Ramaphosa knows today that his fate is sealed.
There is no justification for anyone to have foreign currency to the value of $580,000 in the cushions of your sofa, except for underhand reasons. In six months, he has failed to look us all in the eye and explain. Of course, this is not public money. It is his money.
Ramaphosa knows and understands this situation is indefensible unless he faces the nation and tells the whole truth. He must fight the parliamentary panel’s flawed findings – and finish the one job he has succeeded at before he leaves – to clean up SA’s institutions of accountability – and insulate them from future political interference.
It may have taken five years, but some of the reforms he promised are becoming visible: Law enforcement agencies are biting, some organs of state are beginning to work, and those who have looted the state on behalf of the Gupta family are beginning to appear in court. The days of impunity for those implicated in state capture and corruption are over.
If Ramaphosa goes now, then all this will come to a screeching halt. We saw it happen in 2008, when the Scorpions were dissolved and key figures in the National Prosecuting Authority booted out to ensure charges of corruption against Jacob Zuma were abandoned. If Ramaphosa leaves now the people in charge between 2007-2018 will be back with a vengeance. There are two ways to prevent such a calamity. The most direct, and obvious, medium-term solution is to kick the ANC out of power in the 2024 election.
The second answer is if Ramaphosa stays, he must pursue his reforms while ensuring he has a successor to protect his work and insulate institutions against corruption. At the moment there isn’t a clear successor. He must not let people Thabo Mbeki once called amasela (thieves) win. That’s his one job. Then he must go.