Ramaphosa’s indecisiveness will hurt him in the public eye

T his is a busy week for our head of state: President Cyril Ramaphosa will attend a funeral, participate in the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Forum, to be hosted virtually by Chinese President Xi Jinping, and he has the crucial ANC Gauteng conference to open, before jetting off to the G7 Summit in Germany.

His full itinerary is the reason, according to his office, that he will not be going to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.

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Perhaps his loaded diary is the reason for the strange, last-minute postponements of the handover of the final chapter of the Zondo commission’s reports into State Capture.

Or is there something else at play?

The Presidency cannot expect ordinary South Africans, let alone curious journalists, not to be asking that question – especially when it comes to the current controversy swirling around the president.

Could this delay be because Ramaphosa and Judge Raymond Zondo want to caucus about what might possibly be excised from the report?

Could there be something in there which might potentially harm Ramaphosa?

Whatever the reason behind the delay, Ramaphosa and his advisors do not look to be effective at reputation management.

He has already ducked most questions about detail on the burglary at his farm in the Waterberg … merely promising to cooperate fully with any investigation.

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You can’t blame people for wondering what he has got to hide, given his refusal to take the country into his confidence.

He may do so later – and he may well use the Zondo final report to let rip at his opponents.

These opponents used to be limited to those loyal to the radical economic transformation faction (RET) of Jacob Zuma – but many more are questioning their support for Ramaphosa.

The dithering by Ramaphosa will hurt him in the public eye.