ANC will battle to walk Ramaphosa’s talk

President Cyril Ramaphosa has never had a problem picking the right words to woo the nation. It’s when he has to back up those words with decisive action that he often falls well short.

On Sunday, delivering his statement as the ANC celebrated its 111th birthday at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium in Mangaung, Free State, he vowed to strengthen the fight against corruption and crime, improve basic service delivery, find a resolution to the energy crisis and end load shedding.

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Seems too good to be true. Strong words from the president, but there’s a feeling of “we’ve heard this all before and, yet, seen very little action”. He urged the ruling party to put the interests of the country first – something that has been ignored for many years.

Ramaphosa said: “The 55th national conference of the ANC has firmly resolved that urgent and decisive action must be taken to place our country back on a developmental path that puts the interests of our people ahead of individual interests.”

He added: “We will also strengthen the fight against crime and corruption. These are the tasks that we must undertake. We will also take action to build a better Africa and better world.”

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How can we end load shedding when there’s no clear, logical plan to fix the power crisis in place? How can we win the fight against crime and corruption when no one implicated in the Zondo commission report has actually been brought to book after sufficient evidence of rampant corruption has been laid bare?

How can we fix service delivery when our municipalities are in such disarray, where only individuals in power benefit and not the people who are struggling every day to put bread on the table for their families? We certainly support the president in his bid to finally fix our country.

Let’s hope it becomes a reality and it’s not just more hot air. But past experience suggests we won’t be expecting a change any time soon.

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