South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (C), addresses the media as a fire continues to burn in the South African Parliament buildings, in Cape Town on January 2, 2022. (Photo by RODGER BOSCH / AFP)
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s admission “we do have one city that works … one province that works” is significant.
Much of what Ramaphosa says is crafted by speech writers.
But on Sunday he spoke in the heat of the moment at a media briefing where parliament buildings were on fire. Context matters.
This is the venue where he was in charge of ushering in our founding constitution. Sunday must have been especially emotional for him.
After all, we are less than six months away from what he called a failed insurrection, where arson featured.
The free-roaming insurrectionists still yap at his heels, while their supporters tweet up a storm: “Give The Guy A Bell’s”, and “We see you … Amandla!”.
Our constitutional order is under attack. Ramaphosa is midwife and custodian of that order.
Let’s hope security has been increased at the Constitutional Court, Union Buildings and other symbolic sites.
Sunday’s arson was supported by the ANC’s radical economic transformation faction, which has declared 2022 the year of RET.
They intend to topple Ramaphosa as party president, either at a mid-year policy conference or a December elective conference.
The disruption caused by the parliament fire suits their agenda. Coming two months after local government elections where the ANC lost control of several metros, it adds to the impression of a weak president.
Those who say he was being “statesmanlike” are too kind.
However, the efficiency of Democratic Alliance (DA) municipal and provincial governments in responding to the fire must have seemed a godsend to Ramaphosa.
“Even as we may think that the wheels are coming off on everything,” he said, some things work.
One problem for Ramaphosa is that if he prevails over the RETs, he must lead the ANC in the 2024 national and provincial elections.
His chief opposition will be the DA, to whom he on Sunday gifted votes. He was saying his own people were messing up, but thank heavens for the DA.
Make no mistake, his appointees are derelict in their duties.
As a long-serving former defence minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula must have considerable knowledge of national key points.
Her incompetence, with a hint of disloyalty, was evident during the July insurrection.
Ramaphosa should have dismissed her. Instead, he weakly moved her to the overpaid position of National Assembly speaker, where she bears some responsibility for the lack of security at parliament.
She is in charge. Former speaker Thandi Modise, now defence minister, should shoulder some blame for not ensuring this national key point was secure.
Another minister who has been shown up (again) is the Good party’s Patricia de Lille in the public works and infrastructure portfolio.
As if her R37 million border fence fiasco wasn’t bad enough. Saps security and protection services haven’t covered themselves in glory.
And parliament has for more than six years reportedly not had a head of security.
All the above have blame-shifting stories.
Ultimately, Ramaphosa is chief executive.
The parliament fire, the failed insurrection and much else happened on his watch.
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