More empty words from the ‘unity’ president
● In June 2018, while on a three-nation investment drive, President Cyril Ramaphosa made one of the strangest remarks a leader in his position can ever make.
In an interview with the media delegation that had accompanied him to Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Ramaphosa, who had been criticised for dragging his feet in removing Jacob Zuma from office, said: “There were those who were saying, ‘You are a weak president … why haven’t you kicked president Zuma out?’
“I said I’d rather be seen as a weak president than to split the ANC.”
Two years later, Ramaphosa has done little to convince many South Africans that he’s a strong leader who is serious about rooting out the corruption that’s sinking his government, and the ANC remains a divided house.
This week, Ramaphosa appeared in parliament for the first time since the national lockdown to take oral questions from MPs, with Covid-19 corruption dominating the agenda.
During the three-hour session, MP after MP — with the exception those occupying the ANC side of the chamber, of course — told Ramaphosa that he was “too weak” and was just paying lip service to eliminating corruption.
Opposition MPs told him that many in his own party have recently been caught looting billions of taxpayers’ money earmarked for fighting a killer pandemic and little to no action had been taken against them.
With his back against the wall, the president repeatedly quoted a recently published article that listed the achievements of his administration in cleaning up state institutions that had been captured by Zuma and his acolytes.
Ramaphosa looked all but defeated as he resorted to clichés to describe “a new era and a watershed moment” in the fight against corruption.
The “watershed moment” referred to the fact that the National Treasury had published the names of all companies that got contracts to supply personal protective equipment under dodgy circumstances, in a clear attempt to manage the public backlash against rampant looting.
“In many ways this is what I believe is a watershed moment that marks the start of a new era in transparency and accountability in the procurement of goods and services by public entities.
“The measures that we’re taking will definitely lead to procurement reform that will ensure that we find solutions to the many procurement maladies, including corruption,” Ramaphosa said.
But all this reveals a president who is out of touch with the thinking of many South Africans.
Tabulating obvious government achievements is not what they are looking for, Mr President.
Until South Africans see prominent ANC and government leaders being arrested, successfully prosecuted and locked up in jail, Ramaphosa’s many words on corruption will continue to ring hollow and be disregarded by citizens.
Yes, his spokesperson Khusela Diko has stepped aside after she was implicated, but many more in his government, including MECs and cabinet ministers, should follow suit.
If Ramaphosa is serious about eliminating corruption, how come no action has been taken against ANC MP Bongani Bongo, who was arrested on corruption charges last November?
The president remains comfortable sharing parliamentary benches with Bongo, who serves as chair of the home affairs portfolio committee during the day — despite the party’s “step aside” rule for all those accused of wrongdoing — while preparing for his coming corruption trial at night.
In between, Bongo attends meetings of the ANC’s national executive committee, where he’s part of a faction waging a fightback against Ramaphosa.
In his first state of the nation address, in 2018, Ramaphosa said the country was entering “a new dawn”, which is now being shrugged off as “the new yawn” in some quarters.
As to the “new era” he announced this week, the jury is still out.