Cyril’s latest win his biggest yet

In the middle of last year, the giggling man from Nkandla was so ensconced in the Union Buildings that it looked as though nothing short of a nuclear warhead would dislodge him.

That warhead arrived in December at the ANC’s elective conference … but only in the past week have we seen it detonate as Cyril Ramaphosa goes about obliterating the edifice of state capture.

More than his triumph at the elective conference, this weekend has been Ramaphosa’s real victory as he has moved to root out the culture of looting in the government.

Target number one is – Number One. Ramaphosa’s diplomatic sweet talk notwithstanding, there should be no mistake: Jacob Zuma’s days at the top are numbered. That number appears to be shrinking by the day, as the rats leave the sinking Zuma ship and his allies desert him.

Last week, the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) moved to freeze assets of Trillian and McKinsey & Company, both of which have been involved in dodgy dealings with the Gupta family, Zuma’s son Duduzane and with various state-owned enterprises.

The AFU then moved on the Free State dairy farm run by Gupta front company Estina, which has allegedly siphoned off more than R220 million of taxpayers’ money. Some of this allegedly paid for the lavish Sun City Gupta wedding and for a deposit on a luxury intercontinental executive jet.

Ramaphosa also moved to clean up Eskom, appointing a new board and chairperson, sidestepping compromised Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown. Ramaphosa has talked the talk and now he is walking the walk. We can’t wait to see what the next six months brings …

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