Concerns raised by the investment community should give Ramaphosa sleepless nights

It was February 16, 2018, when President Cyril Ramaphosa made his inspiring maiden “new dawn” speech in parliament.

The dust had hardly settled in a South Africa reeling from what Ramaphosa referred to as the “nine wasted years” of the Jacob Zuma presidency – marked by widespread graft in government and the capture of the country’s public purse by a foreign Indian family, the powerful Guptas, Zuma’s close friends, who had influence in the hiring and firing of ministers.

Among the millions of South Africans who could not make it to parliament, I was glued to my television set to watch Ramaphosa’s speech.

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Zuma was replaced by Ramaphosa – not only educated, but a businessman, former trade unionist, chief negotiator during the transition from apartheid to constitutional democracy and a man Nelson Mandela wished could succeed him as the country’s president.

Amid loud applause, Ramaphosa promised: “This is the year in which we will turn the tide of corruption in our public institutions.

“We are determined to build a society defined by decency and integrity that does not tolerate the plunder of public resources, nor the theft by corporate criminals of the hard-earned savings of ordinary people.”

While we applauded a breath of fresh air, compared to the Zuma presidency, little did we know that things would take a turn for the worst – the deepening of a Mafia state tentacles, blackouts, indecision by the president on major policy issues, a bloated Cabinet, the continued plunder of taxpayers’ money, corrupt civil servants doing anything for money, including letting a convicted criminal live a lavish lifestyle.

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The Ramaphosa we are now accustomed to is a president who would go to a black township and express shock at the rate of unemployment and poverty of his people. He is the same leader who will surprise you by being astonished when Metrorail trains fail to run on time and often stop for hours, without anyone bothering to explain to commuters what the problem is.

What I like of the US elections is that when a new leader assumes office, he or she comes to the White House with their own team. Ramaphosa failed to do so, despite millions having voted his party into power because they wanted to see him firmly in the driver’s seat. What a disappointment.

While those in the ANC high echelons have admonished former president Thabo Mbeki for putting pressure on Ramaphosa to explain the Phala Phala scandal, I think it is time that we accept that the party cannot be bigger than South Africa’s interests.

During the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo put it so well: “If the delay in parliament, taking the decision to institute inquiries into allegations of state capture, was attributable to the balance of power within the ANC, then it must mean that the balance of power initially favoured those in the ANC who did not want such inquiries to be held and that there was a change in the balance of power in the ANC in 2017, which favoured those who wanted such inquiries to be held.

“The two views were held, respectively, by those within the ANC who supported Mr Jacob Zuma and those who supported Mr Ramaphosa.”

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South Africans are tired of seeing a leader being rendered impotent by ANC bigwigs – straight-jacketed to a point of not seeing the difference between right and wrong.

Concerns raised by the investment community during the fifth South African Investment Conference in Sandton last week, about indecision and lack of implementation, should be enough to give Ramaphosa sleepless nights.