Moeletsi Mbeki roasts Ramaphosa: He has ‘totally failed as a president’

Political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki has painted a scathing picture of Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership, saying the president is not a leader but a party agent.  

Mbeki was speaking to Power FM on Monday.

He said Ramaphosa has one of the best public relations machines he could think of, “even better than Bell Pottinger”, but failed as South Africa’s president.

“The man has totally failed as a president, he can’t decide on anything, but many people believe he can save South Africa.”  

“Cyril is not a leader really. He was never a leader. He is an apparatchik or an agent of the party but he presents himself as a leader. He’s not a leader – if you put him next to Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and even Jacob Zuma.”

Mbeki said Ramaphosa fails as a leader because he does not believe in anything.

“He goes with the flow. He wakes up in the morning and says ‘which way is the wind blowing’ and ‘I’m gonna go that way’.”

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Mbeki also said the ANC as a collective should be blamed for the country’s failures.

“I think South Africa is a great country. We have a very poor government and many people mistake the government for the people of South Africa or for the country. We have a very poor and under-performing government with all the malaises you have listed as a result of poor government. I think South Africa is still a functioning country and it functions because of the people.”

Ramaphosa’s sympathetic critics – those who would like him to succeed but who worry about how he goes about leading the ANC and the country – often single out his apparent weakness and indecision as being a major failing.

That image, of being a vacillating person or one who prefers capitulation to confrontation, was heightened by his ignominious exit from a May Day rally in the North West, where he was booed and heckled by union members.

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