Read more
Ramaphosa has come under criticism for a number of issues.
President Cyril Ramaphosa. Photo: GCIS
Political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki has criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa, calling him a “very weak president.”
Mbeki was speaking to author and broadcaster Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh in a wide-ranging interview about the government of national unity (GNU), Ramaphosa, the MK party and expelled ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool.
Ramaphosa has come under criticism for several issues, including combatting corruption, signing the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill into law and the Expropriation.
Mbeki said Ramaphosa has not been able to control “his own party”.
“I think President Ramaphosa has been a very weak president for the ANC. He’s not been able, first to control his own party, he’s not really controlling the ANC. He’s not controlling his Cabinet, which is why, you know, ministers say all sorts of things.
“Gwede Mantashe says one thing, the government decides we have to do something about green energy he says, no, he’s going to keep burning coal, and he’s still a minister, despite contradicting what the government is saying,” Mbeki said.
The Citizen contacted Ramaphosa’s spokesperson for a comment, which will be added to the story once received.
ALSO READ: Should Paul Mashatile be president? This ANC veteran thinks so
In March last year, Mantashe said expecting a rapid transition from dependence on coal-fired power generation to clean energy would be “very wrong,” and the nation would need to use fossil fuels for longer to address an electricity shortage.
Mantashe reiterated that coal would continue to play a vital role in South Africa’s energy mix as wealthy nations look for ways to invest in technologies that help decarbonise the country.
Mbeki said Ramaphosa has been a “holding operation.”
“So for me, he has been, again, coming back to that word, a holding operation. I think he sees himself as weak in the scheme of things. You know, the ANC has his own inner circles, so he feels that he’s not part of the inner circle, and so he hasn’t got the muscle to enforce the answers own decisions, because they have to be enforced,” Mbeki said.
“He doesn’t feel he’s strong enough to insist that decisions must be enforced, and so what you have is a rather hectic, chaotic government, and it becomes even more hectic and chaotic now that is in partnership with other political parties, the government of national unity.
“I mean, you can see DA ministers talking about me as a DA minister. I’m doing X, Y, and Z, but he’s part of Mr Ramaphosa’s Cabinet. He should be speaking about what the cabinet is doing. But because he feels well, there’s nobody to stop me from talking about me representing the DA, so he goes ahead,” Mbeki added.
ALSO READ: Cyril Ramaphosa needs to show some backbone
This is not the first time Mbeki criticised Ramaphosa.
In 2022, Mbeki painted a scathing picture of Ramaphosa’s leadership, saying the president is not a leader but a party agent.
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 failed as a leader because he did 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’,” he said.
ALSO READ: WATCH: ‘Rasool provoked Trump with global white supremacist remarks’ – Mbeki
Download our app