Ramaphosa ‘the worst president ever for black people’ – Malema

EFF leader Julius Malema on Monday described President Cyril Ramaphosa as the worst president South Africa has ever had since the advent of democracy, saying poverty, unemployment, corruption and the suffering of black people had deteriorated under his tenure.

Sona debate 2022

In a scathing attack in response to Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (Sona), delivered last week in Cape Town, Malema said the president had done absolutely nothing for black South Africans since his inauguration in 2019.

“Mr President, you must admit that under your leadership, South Africa is in a worse condition than it has ever been.

“You are currently the worse president to have ever occurred to black people, and we are not surprised that black people are getting poorer under your leadership,” the EFF leader said, speaking at the Sona debate at Cape Town City Hall.

Malema said Ramaphosa’s presidency had been characterised by indecisive leadership and an alleged push by government to privatise the country’s struggling state-owned enterprises.

Ramaphosa’s ‘new dawn’

He said what began as a “new dawn” in 2018 after the recall of former president Jacob Zuma, had “become massive unemployment, increased violence against women and children, collapsing hospitals and the greatest threats against the security of the state in post-democratic South Africa.”

“Under your tenure as a president, the situation in South Africa has gone from bad to worse.

“The fact of the matter is Mr President, your dream of being a president coming true has been a nightmare for the people of South Africa,” Malema said.

ALSO READ: ‘We’re engaged in the battle for the soul of the country’

Malema said when Ramaphosa assumed office, the Red Berets warned him like his predecessor, “that the people of this country have not elected you to act in the interests of a small elite”.

“We warned you not to surrender this country to the Ruperts and the Oppenheimers, who played a vital role in funding your life-long dream of being a president of this country.

“Unfortunately, you did not listen to this warning, and became a shapeless individual, whose term was an impotent concoction of special envoys, presidential task teams and summits,” he said.

Ramaphosa wasted five years setting up structures in which he placed his friends from the business sector to resolve political problems, Malema claimed.

“You now want to auction off the country to the highest bidder by privatisation of state-owned companies and we all know who will buy these state-owned assets — the white minority capitalist class that is at the core of your leadership of our people.

“We reject all forms of privatisations that you plan to embark on and we will go to the streets to reject any form of privatisation,” Malema said.

NOW READ: Ramaphosa’s views on job creation are ‘fatally flawed’ – SACP