‘Zumaphosa monitor’ tracks Ramaphosa’s alleged bromance with Zuma

A website makes the case that the current president has only good things to say about his former political rival.

Former president Jacob Zuma and President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: GCIS/AFP

Website Inside Politics has added a section to its website it calls The Zumaphosa Monitor, which tracks positive statements made by current president Cyril Ramaphosa about former president Jacob Zuma.

The site describes Zuma as the “man who brought South Africa to the brink”, adding that while “you won’t final a single critical word” about the former president from the current one, you will find “praise, and a lot of it”.

“The Zumaphosa Monitor is designed to track everything Ramaphosa has said about Jacob Zuma in the hope that, one day, he might actually have a critical word to say directly about the former president. When he does, it will shut down,” the write-up that accompanies the section of the site says.

The site lists quotes from Ramaphosa about Zuma.

These include:

“I don’t see President Zuma as being beleaguered. I see him as a very strong president. A president who has led from the front.”

“You know President Zuma is one of the few presidents that I know who has been able to work with people who he knows don’t support him entirely, and people who are saying we want regime change. He has been able, not only to invite them into his Cabinet but to even elevate them in his Cabinet.”

“President Zuma continues watering the tree of unity”.

“Talk time is over, we want action and action man Jacob Zuma is going to make sure that this country moves forward.”

The monitor also includes a “Bromance Cloud” which combines Ramaphosa’s keywords of praise towards Zuma in one place.

The Zumaphosa Monitor can be found here.

The site is run by Gareth van Onselen, who worked for the Democratic Alliance (DA) for 12 years before becoming a journalist. He is currently head of politics and governance at the South African Institute of Race Relations.

It has been reported that Ramaphosa and Zuma, despite their past political rivalry, have shown a unified front amid the party’s 2019 election campaign and 107th birthday celebrations which will culminate in a rally at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday.

Ramaphosa praised Zuma for encouraging “unity” within the ANC during his delivery of the ANC’s annual January 8 speech at the Ohlange Institute in Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal.

While it was reported that, following Ramaphosa’s speech, the crowd chanted “Zuma, Zuma”, the jury was out as to whether this was a display of factionalism on the party of those chanting or simply an indication that they were happy to see their former president. KwaZulu-Natal is known as his stronghold.

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