S’thembiso Msomi

Bids farewell to Cassius Lubisi, departing director-general in the Presidency, who saved the highest office in the land at a time of its worst crisis under Zuma

It is not often that anyone finds anything good to say about former president Jacob Zuma and his tenure as head of state. The current happenings at the Zondo commission are a constant reminder of how close to the precipice we were under his presidency. Key institutions of state nearly collapsed. Some of the most dedicated civil servants, whose loyalty to the country and the constitution was unquestionable, were pushed out of their positions. In many instances they were replaced by lackeys who were more than eager to break the rules to satisfy their political masters and their business associates. But there were moments when Zuma made inspired appointments. His choice, for instance, of advocate Thuli Madonsela as public protector not only strengthened that Chapter 9 institution but resulted in it fighting and winning groundbreaking legal battles in the Constitutional Court.

And Mogoeng Mogoeng has proven himself over the years to have been a sound appointment as chief justice, even though at the time he was named to the post many were sceptical because Zuma had overlooked the excellent jurist Dikgang Moseneke, who was then deputy chief justice.

At the political level, Zuma did give us some of the worst cabinet ministers this country has ever seen. Some of them, unfortunately, still hold portfolios under President Cyril Ramaphosa. Towards the end of Zuma’s stay at the Union Buildings, good ministers had become the exception rather than the norm.

But very little is said of his office, the Union Buildings. By all accounts, even among Zuma sympathisers in the government, the presidency office under Zuma was the weakest since 1994, due largely to the fact that the real power often lay elsewhere. The popular view being that it lay in Saxonwold, although some would argue that there were several other “kitchen cabinets” that also wielded influence.

That the administration of the presidency did not collapse under the weight of neverending scandals, interest groups using their proximity to Zuma to get their way and the constant ANC power struggles that tended to spill over into the government, is thanks mostly to the office of the director-general.

Cassius Lubisi, who was appointed to the post 10 years ago, is the kind of man who does not like to blow his own trumpet. He is hardly ever seen in public and seldom says anything.

But his leadership at the Union Buildings is what kept the ship steady even under the most difficult times of political instability. Those who worked closely with him in the presidency, as well as across the government, talk of how his insistence on due process and respect for the law often helped to keep the looters outside the gates at the Union Buildings. Hence those who were using their proximity to the then president to manipulate government decisions and influence appointments often had to do so far from the Union Buildings.

Such was the high regard in which Lubisi was held across ANC factions that even at the height of the conflict between Zuma, his deputy president Ramaphosa and some of his senior ministers, they all seemed at ease to communicate with the DG.

When Zuma was finally ousted and Ramaphosa became president, Lubisi was not pushed out of the job. Clearly Ramaphosa had come to trust him during the years he worked with the DG as Zuma’s deputy. Ramaphosa’s confidence in Lubisi was not misplaced. The DG ensured that the transition was smooth, preventing the kind of managerial havoc that occurred at the Union Buildings following the removal of former president Thabo Mbeki from office.

After years in the government, Lubisi finally retired on Friday. He had been in the civil service for almost three decades and not a single scandal was ever associated with his name. Although an ANC cadre in the sense that he was a party activist and leader for many years before taking up positions in the civil service, he was a consummate civil servant who always put country before party.

We need more of his calibre, especially in this period when political dominance by one party appears to no longer be guaranteed.

Now that Lubisi has hung up his boots, Ramaphosa has an opportunity to appoint his own DG. Lubisi’s shoes will be hard to fill. The president needs to find someone with the same kind of values and work ethic, a civil servant who does not see themself as being loyal to a party or political faction, but to the country and the constitution. As Lubisi has shown us over the years, such civil servants do exist — even though they may be few and far between.