When President Cyril Ramaphosa took power in 2018, much was expected of him. He dithered. The reason, we were told, was that he was trying to unite the ANC, to bring in former president Jacob Zuma’s support base, before he could fire the many lame ducks who dominated his cabinet.
Six years later he has been thoroughly punished by the electorate for his dithering and his failure to resuscitate and invigorate the economy.
A month after we voted for a new dispensation, he has given us a mengelmoes of a cabinet. It has no coherence or logic. Some deadweight from his previous administration has stuck around, totally untested quantities from populist parties have made it in, and someone who could not boil a kettle or dig a pit latrine even if you gave them illustrated instructions has been given the key ministry of defence.
Forget about the fact that this is one of the most bloated executives in the world (astonishingly, every minister seems to have a deputy or three).
Forget about asking how the ministry of land reform (run by the leader of the hapless PAC — a party that hasn’t even once mustered 1% of the vote since 1994) is supposed to cohere with the ministry of agriculture under DA leader John Steenhuisen.
Instead of being innovative, our president takes Senzo Mchunu, who has overseen the water mess for years with no progress, to run the police
The expression “herding cats” springs to mind every time you think of the ministry of basic education (under the DA’s Siviwe Gwarube) trying to get some innovation from science, technology & innovation minister Blade Nzimande.
All that aside, you must wonder how anyone could reward incompetence on such a scale. The president may not have noticed it, but the country is facing a water crisis of gargantuan proportions. Joburg, the economic hub of the country, often has infrastructure failures that lead to weeks of no water in many parts. Buying gallons of water is now normalised.
So, what does one do? Instead of being innovative, our president takes Senzo Mchunu, who has overseen the water mess for years with no progress, to run the police. I want to say “I quit”, but I would be lying. I can’t quit, because this sort of decision-making under Ramaphosa has killed me. I am dead.
But let’s not dwell on the negative. Ramaphosa is a man who has been given advice by virtually everyone on the planet. He is single-minded though, and so much of the advice he is given is received with humility, gratefulness and charm — but it is swiftly discarded or ignored.
That’s OK. Ramaphosa is an adult and knows the consequences. He saw the results of May 29. Ramaphosa must surely know that a single misstep could wreck the multiparty coalition he has struck. He is a man with many enemies and critics, both within his own party — where he is loathed by many of his national executive committee — and outside it.
So, the one thing I would advise Ramaphosa and his new cabinet (and their retinue of deputies) to recognise is that there is no time. The dithering must stop. The country is watching. The naughty chaps are doing their best to undermine this new administration. There is just no time to dilly-dally.
If Ramaphosa does not herd his cats in the right direction quickly, he will lose them, and he will lose the country, and before long we will be voting again. He dilly-dallied in 2018, and he has been rewarded with a 17 percentage point decline in support.
The key is to heed clause 13 of the GNU agreement of June 14 2024. It says: “The parties to this GNU statement of intent shall, following the formation of the GNU, hold a lekgotla (strategy session) [and] develop an agreed policy agenda, which shall include policy priorities for the GNU.”
My hope is that the few good people in this cabinet will drive Ramaphosa to hold this session immediately, to drive economic reforms through swiftly, to address crime and to begin creating jobs through collaboration with business.
How many times must this be said? This is no time to tarry. Zuma’s administration wasted nine years through corruption. Ramaphosa’s has wasted six by sitting on its hands. This time, even with all the deadwood and populists in the cabinet, the country has a chance to turn things around. But there is no time. Speed is of the essence.
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