Mandela’s indecisive protégé is watching SA crumble

Jacob Zuma had his faults – one of them being a strong association with the infamous Gupta family who sucked South African taxpayers dry through the state capture project.

Economist Thabo Mbeki became one of the best presidents in the post-apartheid era, his only glaring blemish being the dismal manner in which he handled the HIV/Aids pandemic.

Pragmatic FW de Klerk, who faced allegations of links to apartheid terror squads who executed the planned murders of the Cradock Four, was credited for taking the bold move to release Nelson Mandela and unbanning the ANC and other political organisations – paving the way for a negotiated settlement.

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There is one common thread in the legacy of the three leaders – decisiveness.

Zuma wanted a pliant Cabinet, with ministers reshuffled or fired on his whim for failing to follow orders – a trait President Cyril Ramaphosa lacks.

Obviously, Zuma fired ministers for all the wrong reasons.

Ramaphosa is resisting calls for to get rid of his worst performing Cabinet, with some ministers dogged by scandals linking them to state capture.

Driven by “the renewal of the ANC”, Rampahosa has tried hard to portray himself as “Mr Nice Guy” – offering senior positions to the likes of discredited Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Gwede Mantashe, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni – implicated at the Zondo Commission.

He has also turned a blind eye to other bigwigs serving in senior positions within the governing party’s national executive committee (NEC), preferring to fall on his sword rather than cause ructions in the ANC.

While he is desperately seeking a second-term at all costs – hoping that those he has rewarded will rally in support of his ANC presidential campaign in the run-up to the party national conference in December – he seems to have forgotten that in the world of politics there are neither permanent friends nor enemies.

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Backstabbers are likely to emerge from his own Cabinet and members of the divided ANC NEC – jostling for future positions.

The ANC Ramaphosa strives to renew is riddled with factionalism and splits and is ultimately set for an implosion.

Gaining less than 50% in the 2024 elections will send a strong message of people’s unhappiness with a party that was once revered as a liberation movement led by Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu.

One does not need to look far to see what South Africa has reaped due to Ramaphosa’s indecision – the most obvious being the high level of lawlessness in the country.

The police’s failure to implement the rule of law, by arresting those behind Operation Dudula, means our hard-earned democracy is being eroded.

Our porous borders, corruption within the security forces, lack of real service delivery and the sheer arrogance of those in positions of power has characterised the true values held by the party, which has become a shadow of its former self.

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This is all happening under the watch of a man who wants us to believe that he is a protégé of Mandela.

He may have held a microphone for Madiba to address the crowds in Cape Town when the latter came out of Victor Verster Prison and sat next to him during the constitutional talks, but he is no Mandela.

Fiddling while Rome burns is a sign of a leader who is not only out of depth, but out of touch with reality.

As people’s patience has run thin, it is time to give way to a leader who will take us out of this quagmire.