Ramaphosa has no moral credibility, just like his predecessor Zuma

At last President Cyril Ramaphosa and former president Jacob Zuma have something in common.

They’re both praying for the success of his latest Stalingrad legal manoeuvres.

A sitting president would rarely find himself secretly rooting for a hated predecessor who is actively conspiring to unseat him.

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It’s very likely, however, that Ramaphosa was hoping for exactly that result in a hearing this week before the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

The appeal was against a high court ruling that Zuma’s medical parole was unlawful and he should return to jail.

Zuma had been sentenced to 15 months for defying the Constitutional Court’s order that he appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. Zuma’s “imprisonment” – he did not spend a single night in a cell but was immediately transferred to a private hospital – was the signal for last July’s wave of violent unrest.

In the face of this “attempted insurrection”, in Ramaphosa’s words, the president folded his hand with alacrity.

Zuma was released in a contrivance that could not possibly have taken place without a nod from the Ramaphosa administration.

The then national commissioner of correctional services (and disgraced former spy boss) Arthur Fraser decided Zuma was terminally ill and should be released forthwith.

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Ramaphosa expressed his customary shock while heaving a secret sigh of relief.

A further round of rioting was forestalled. It was left to the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Helen Suzman Foundation and AfriForum to challenge the medical parole stratagem.

Ranged against them, supporting Zuma, was the department of correctional services, which falls under the control of Ramaphosa’s close Cabinet ally, Justice Minister Ronnie Lamola.

In his judgment in favour of the applicants, High Court Judge Elias Matojane cut to the nub.

It was not up to the commissioner to decide on medical parole, based on an offender’s “trusted practitioners” having diagnosed terminal illness or incapacity.

Turning to the political considerations, Matojane wrote: “Threats of riots is not a ground for releasing an offender on medical parole.”

The SCA has reserved judgment on the appeal.

That gives Ramaphosa breathing space as he tries to survive through to the December leadership conference, where he hopes to secure a second term.

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Ramaphosa also carries personal baggage harking back to Marikana, which happened 10 years ago this week.

The Marikana massacre, in which 34 striking miners were shot dead by the police and 10 other people were murdered by miners, occurred during a labour conflict at the Lonmin mine, of which holding company Ramaphosa was a director.

Using his political clout, Ramaphosa had lobbied Cabinet ministers and the police commissioner to act strongly against the “dastardly criminal” miners.

This sneaky resort by Ramaphosa to covert strongman tactics is still dogging him.

Last month, the courts ruled he can be sued in his personal capacity by the 349 surviving Marikana mineworkers for R1 billion in damages.

Ramaphosa’s obsession with maintaining ANC unity at any cost, his sordid involvement in Marikana and the prospect of him being criminally charged in connection with Farmgate has left us with a paralysed president.

He no longer has the moral credibility, nor political courage, to act to fulfil his constitutional oath.

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