Does SA have the time Ramaphosa needs to build his political strength?

Given that the ANC’s leadership seems to have “plausible deniability” as its standard operating procedure, it would be tempting to dismiss President Cyril Ramaphosa’s glib explanations of why state capture blossomed under his watch as deputy president under Jacob Zuma.

The upshot of his evidence to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture thus far seems to be that he decided to fight the rot from within. More than that, he claims that, had he not done so, the results of the looting by Zuma, the Guptas and their allies could have been far worse.

The massive scale of the corruption – and the losses incurred by the country (taxpayers, in reality) – is already eye-watering so, if Ramaphosa is to be believed, the country would have been a scorched earth ruin had he and like-minded comrades not fought against it behind the scenes.

As it is, though, it looks as if the “fifth column” activity conducted by them against Zuma was singularly ineffective.

On the other hand, you have to acknowledge Ramaphosa’s very real worry that if he and others had aired their concerns, they would have been fired… and unable to influence much.

If he is to be believed, then it required time and stealth to build the opposition to Zuma. That the Nasrec conference result in 2017 came so close to going in favour of Zuma indicates that Ramaphosa and his allies were fighting a serious struggle.

That struggle is clearly not over – as evidenced by Ramaphosa’s often seemingly inexplicable “softly, softly” approach to those in the radical economic transformation clique loyal to Zuma.

Faced with clear proof of incompetence or disloyalty, he has failed to fire people. His enemies are far from defeated.

However, the crucial question remains: does South Africa have the luxury of time – the time Ramaphosa needs to build his political strength?