Mkhwebane’s survival a result of Ramaphosa’s wavering

When President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership style or legacy is finally evaluated, a lot of space will be dedicated to understanding why, in most instances, he chose to do nothing.

In fact, it has become his signature move about burning issues, probably in the hope that they will burn themselves out, sparing him the difficult part that a leader is there for: making a decision.

It is that inability to make decisions that has come back to haunt right now, with Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane back in the playing field to resume her unwavering battle against him.

The president had the nation eating out of the palm of his hand during the hard Covid lockdown because, for once, he seemed decisive. But in hindsight it is clear it was not the president’s decisiveness that defined the period but that of then health minister Zweli Mkhize and the National Coronavirus Command Council that set out what needed to be done.

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All the president had to do was read out their decisions and leave his ministers to implement what the council decided.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the person who has been a thorn on his side, the current public protector, was allowed to run her office incompetently for years, lose major court cases, issue reports that were labelled dishonest by the courts, but only got to be suspended by the president when the parliamentary process to determine her suitability to hold office was already underway.

Ramaphosa had all the time in the world to make moves against a public protector who was fumbling through major cases, when even opposition parties were calling for her head, but he chose to do as he has always done: refused to make a decision.

The Western Cape High Court in Cape Town decided his decision to suspend her a day after she had sent him 31 questions about the Phala Phala farm robbery was “tainted by bias of the unqualifying kind and perhaps an improper motive”.

That judgment looks damning for the president – and it should be. But the judgment cannot take into account the years, in fact, that the president had decided to sit back and hope time would resolve the public protector problem for him. But time marches on for everyone. And while Ramaphosa waited, Phala Phala happened and the public protector got the bone she was holding on for.

The president must account for Phala Phala. He must answer all the questions – especially questions around the legality of foreign currency and whether it was declared or not. He must also account for any illegal acts done in his name during the battle to recover the money and, if he was aware of those acts, he must be held accountable.

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Phala Phala must not be used to “cleanse” Mkhwebane though. Her suitability to hold office is independent of Ramaphosa’s indiscretions. Perhaps the biggest lesson for him is that time does not always unfold favourably for those that consider their cause righteous or just.

Decisions have to be made about lawlessness, incompetence and extortions that are ripping SA’s business world apart. Refusing to make those decisions does not make the problem go away, it just makes the chickens come home to roost.