Ramaphosa has not acted as though a raging fire is ravaging the country he leads

Popular legend has it that in the year 64 AD a great fire consumed the city of Rome, leaving the majority of its citizens homeless and the great city in ruins.

The most astonishing thing is that at the time the fire was ravaging the city, the great Roman Emperor Nero allegedly played some sort of musical instrument – and probably danced – while the citizens were dying or having all their worldly possessions destroyed.

A few weeks ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa cancelled a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos because power blackouts were at their worst. He stayed so he could attend to the crisis.

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By his own admission and that of his government, the electricity crisis is so severe that it is the biggest threat to South Africa’s political and economic stability. It is the equivalent of the great fire that engulfed Rome almost 2 000 years ago.

And although the president hasn’t been seen or heard playing any musical instrument, he has not acted as though a raging fire is ravaging the country he leads. Davos was six weeks ago already.

The only thing that has happened since then is he has announced an impending addition to his already bloated Cabinet in the form of an electricity minister. And that was two weeks ago already. Some crisis this must be that, during it, the only action taken is a big announcement – and then more waiting.

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It must be noted that the president was re-elected to lead the ruling party more than two months ago already. Even allowing him a cooling off period of a month, it clearly shows he is not in a hurry to do even the most basic of things he is expected to do as leader.

A Cabinet reshuffle is not a luxury at this point in time, it is an urgent necessity. His second-in-command, Deputy President David Mabuza, decided to resign to make way for Paul Mashatile.

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula surely cannot be running the whole department of transport, as well as an entire ruling party at the same time? One task has to suffer and it is not unfair to think it is the department – and therefore citizens who are getting the short end of the stick.

Having made the unpopular announcement about the new minister, surely the president realises that this minister should have been appointed already and getting busy with the business of fixing the power crisis.

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An untested theory about why the president can afford to fly off to the African Union, while he has left the country hanging about a Cabinet reshuffle, could be that all these positions with their deputy ministers and directors-general and managers and assistant managers – all of them – are not necessary.

If Mabuza can resign and his replacement is not sought immediately, then who is doing all the work he is supposed to be doing? Unlike emperor Nero, the president might not be finding any amusement in this raging crisis that the country faces.

But if it should turn out that the reason for his inaction while the power situation worsens by the day is because of the extensive consultations that he allegedly has to do with ruling party’s alliance partners, then things are worse than fiddling while Rome burns.

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It effectively means while the economy is being destroyed by lack of electricity, the president’s and ruling party’s concern was how not to upset their alliance partners, rather than by acting decisively during the country’s worst crisis.