War of words leaves Ramaphosa between rock and hard place

Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu is deliberately playing the disrupter role in order to undermine President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership credibility because she has a political long game to pursue.

And if Ramaphosa does fire her, it would set her free to join suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and MP Mervin Dick, recently suspended for asking the standing committee on public accounts to call Ramaphosa to account for hiding ANC corruption.

In a tit-for-tat exchange of letters on Thursday night, Sisulu blasted Ramaphosa and basically called him a liar when she denied retracting her missive which attacked black judges. On Friday a letter by Sisulu on official stationery moved her stance from that of a private citizen to an official of government.

Helen Suzman Foundation executive officer Nicole Fritz said: “As an extension of the president and his Cabinet, a minister cannot, and should not, express or act in a manner that undermines or contradicts the position or policy of the executive authority.

“The fact that the exchange takes place via the official letterheads of both the president and the minister of tourism indicates this matter is not simply a dispute between two private individuals or even internal ANC members, but rather as a dispute between public officials cloaked in their official capacity as members of the executive of the Republic of South Africa, who are consequently bound to uphold their oaths and the constitution.”

Fritz said this made it appear that Sisulu’s “response and posture are incompatible with the allocation of executive authority as governed by the constitution”.

And as calls were apparently mounting at an ANC national executive committee meeting for her to face the integrity commission for defying the president, political economy analyst Daniel Silke said her defiance had put Ramaphosa on the spot to either fire her or leave her alone. Either way, Ramaphosa was damned.

When Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams defied lockdown regulations and Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula dismissed Ramaphosa’s claims of an insurrection last year, both issued apologies soon after being called in by their boss.

But not Sisulu – the Presidency issued a statement on her behalf. After her initial fury, Sisulu toned it down on Friday,
saying she respected Ramaphosa and blamed the presidency media team for being “deliberately mischievous
in the statement issued, as the minister at no point in the conversation was firstly admonished or, secondly, expressed regrets resulting in agreeing to withdrew or apologises for her article”.

Silke said Sisulu chose the wrong issues on which to challenge Ramaphosa. Her criticism of the constitution and the judiciary were not the best topics for her early campaign and would damage her own reputation.

The minister should rather have attacked Ramaphosa on ANC policies, such as alleged failure to implement Nasrec resolutions. “If he doesn’t fire her, he would be seen as weak and indecisive; if he does fire her, he would be seen as being intolerant of dissenting views and he could polarise the ANC factions even further,” Silke said. “Ramaphosa is caught between a rock and a hard place, as the old saying goes.”

Political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga said by contradicting Ramaphosa, she was drawing the battle lines towards the December ANC elective conference. Both Silke and Mathekga said the minister was spoiling for a fight and being dismissed was her aim.

“Ramaphosa will need to be more circumspect. It’s clear the battle lines are drawn here as far as Lindiwe is concerned,” Mathekga said.

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“Cyril already made a bad move with this apology. He will have to watch carefully and also begin to see Lindiwe as a
potential challenger.”

Political analyst Sanusha Naidu said what is happening among ANC leaders was “worse than playground tactics”.

“This is not political leadership or any kind of leadership. It is a disgrace to the ANC as the oldest liberation struggle organisation [in Africa],” Naidu said.

Independent political commentator Pule Monama said Sisulu’s attack on the constitution and the judiciary was disingenuous and was deeply rooted in the ANC’s factional battles. Pule, formerly a senior member of the Azanian People’s Organisation, said Sisulu was no ordinary citizen, but an architect of the constitution she criticised.

“This should have brought an immediate reprimand from Ramaphosa but he didn’t do that because he was an absent president.”

– ericn@citizen.co.za