Cyril Ramaphosa is no visionary prophet

If South Africans were the Biblical Israelites, then they would be sitting baffled in the desert as their Moses – the man leading them out of peril toward the Promised Land – wanders around in circles, seemingly clueless.

Perhaps it is our fault that we have made President Cyril Ramaphosa our later-day Moses. As becomes clearer daily, he is no visionary prophet, never mind just being a mediocre leader.

The events of the last week have showed, sadly, that the ANC leader’s promises of a bright “new dawn” – of an end to corruption and waste and inefficiency – are, to be kind, insubstantial.

He seems “shocked” by so many things which he should know as the head of government, that we must say he is either being gravely misled by his advisors or he is trying to deflect blame by using that old South African standby, “It’s not my fault…”

He may have told the country in December that there would be no “unplanned” loadshedding for a month and he may or may not have been misled by his people in saying that.

However, many have noted the fact that during the implosion of Eskom which began in the years Jacob Zuma was head of government, Ramaphosa was not only deputy president but was, at one stage, head of the Eskom “war room”.

We are shocked that he is shocked by anything. Also, there has still to be widespread prosecution of state capturers and looters … despite the appointment of the Zondo Commission.

There has been no attempt to curb government expenditure or force our terminally ill state-owned enterprises to take the harsh economic medicine they need.

It seems that Ramaphosa, through his own inertia or fear of his opponents, has become, effectively, no better than the rest of them in the ANC ineptocracy.

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