Zuma’s call for ‘honest government’ an insult to Ramaphosa – analyst

The latest insinuation made by former president Jacob Zuma that ANC members had to be honest if they wanted to enjoy public trust was a veiled attempt to cast aspersions at President Cyril Ramaphosa amid the raging debate over his 2017 party leadership campaign funding, according to independent political analyst Ralph Mathekga.

Delivering a memorial lecture in honour of the party’s Defiance Campaign stalwart Johannes Pungula, at Ixopo in KwaZulu-Natal over the weekend, Zuma, who did not elaborate, told ANC supporters in isiZulu that being honest was at the core of winning public trust.

Against a background of defamation lawsuits against him filed by his ANC comrades Derek Hanekom and Siphiwe Nyanda, Mathekga said Zuma found it “a defence mechanism to play victim whenever challenged in courts of law”.

“Should he win in court, it will be a victory. But should he lose, he has a script ready, which say he is a victim of a conspiracy,” Mathekga said, referring to the reputational damage lawsuits filed by Hanekom and Nyanda.

“He has mastered the art of playing victim whenever he is cornered.

“What Zuma was indirectly instilling in the minds of ANC supporters at the Ixopo memorial lecture was that the incumbent leader, who is President Cyril Ramaphosa, is not honest.

“This also ties in with a similar statement made by ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte that no amount of money would be able to sway the party’s policy making process,” said Mathekga.

– brians@citizen.co.za

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