JUSTICE MALALA: Ramaphosa is a man without a plan

Most political leaders make it clear, early in their terms in office, what their real agenda is — and then use their powers to pursue that goal.

FW de Klerk wanted to relieve white South Africa of the self-imposed burden of the unjust, unworkable and criminal system of apartheid. On February 2 1990, within months of taking power, De Klerk struck down apartheid laws and unbanned the ANC and other organisations. In 1994 he oversaw the peaceful transition from apartheid dictatorship to democracy.

Nelson Mandela wanted to dismantle apartheid and shepherd South Africa into a united, nonracial, nonsexist and democratic future. Between 1994 and 1999, despite many criticisms that he was “selling out”, he pursued this goal with vigour and succeeded in building a semblance of a new nation.

Thabo Mbeki wanted to transform and grow South Africa’s economy while building a significant black middle class. He also wanted to help rebuild the continent’s ravaged economies and remove dictators. The growth of the economy in the 2000s and the transformation of our economy resulted from his leadership.

Jacob Zuma wanted to destroy the institutions that were pursuing him on corruption charges and to line the pockets of his benefactors, the Gupta family. Within months of becoming ANC president in 2007, his lackeys in the party disbanded the Scorpions and fired the top leaders of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Then the looting began.

I detail this history because, 7½ years after he became president, I am no longer clear what President Cyril Ramaphosa’s agenda is. After years in the Union Buildings, Ramaphosa does not seem to have pursued any goal or a greater agenda with vigour or success. This administration is listless, adrift, unmoored, without a captain who has basic standards or clear goals.

With Zuma in charge, it was clear that the country was headed for the skids. We all knew where we were going: down. In Ramaphosa’s case we have fine words (Thuma Mina!), action plans, meeting with CEOs, a vast array of advisers — but no clear vision, strategic plan and no headway being made on the more obvious goals.

In his campaign to unseat Zuma back in 2015-2017, Ramaphosa made much of rejuvenating and strengthening state institutions that had been captured by the Gupta-Zuma complex. Now that these institutions have been freed, they have been left to stumble on, on their own.

The NPA has failed to convict any high-profile individuals implicated in state capture. Recently it has suffered high-profile defeats by a rape-accused fake bishop, the Guptas in the Vrede dairy matter, and by former ANC bigwig Ace Magashule’s ex-personal assistant. If Ramaphosa’s aim was to restore this institution to its former glory, why is he doing nothing to repair it?

Ramaphosa has repeatedly said he stands for clean governance. Yet, incredibly, the man has done sweet nothing while his minister of higher education has been entangled in a huge scandal in which she is accused of appointing her ANC KwaZulu-Natal chommies to head the sector education & training authorities (Seta) boards. She has come up with a fiction that these board chairs were nominated by an independent panel. A month after she was caught out, she still has not told anyone — including Ramaphosa — who sat on this independent panel. Ramaphosa has happily kept her in his cabinet.

Ramaphosa has excelled in dealing with crises such as Covid and US President Donald Trump’s attack on South Africa. Beyond that, however, he seems to be happy to smile and wave and do nothing.

Does he want to grow the economy? Well, in 2015 the economy grew by 1.3%. Projections for growth this year range from 0.5% to 1.5%, depending on the source. The first quarter of 2025 had depressing growth of just 0.1%. Ramaphosa is failing on the economy.

South Africa’s youth unemployment rate (that is, for those aged 15-34) was 36.9% in 2015. Stats SA puts it at 46.1% in the first quarter of this year. This is an increase of 9.2 percentage points in 10 years.

Ramaphosa has been in power for seven years. He has four years to go if he is allowed to finish this term. If he continues this way history will judge him harshly. He is a nice guy, but the numbers are clear: he has failed spectacularly.