The response of the Ramaphosa administration to this week’s protests against undocumented foreign nationals has been laudable. Unlike in 2021, when the state was caught completely flat-footed by riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, the threat of the June 30 “deadline” set by anti-immigrant groups was assessed and responded to with surprisingly effective co-ordination across government.
From his address to the nation three weeks ago to meeting in private with key figures in the anti-immigrant movement, President Cyril Ramaphosa seems to have been able to contain the deep anger and frustration of a mob baying for blood, largely ensuring that protests did not descend into violence and looting.
But the protests, their instigation and the latent anger they exposed in poor communities across South Africa serve as a warning to the Ramaphosa administration. It has to get its house in order.
At the heart of the anger and frustration that communities have expressed towards undocumented immigrants is the state’s failure to police the country’s borders and ensure a functional home affairs department. Add to that failures in policing and the criminal justice system.
What is interesting is that the two men who have been most responsible for these failures are active in the wings — one criticising his every move, the other actively trying to unseat him. Former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma refuse to let go and allow South Africa to move forward.
In a discussion document released by his foundation this week, Mbeki takes aim at Ramaphosa over his June 7 address to the nation.
“President Ramaphosa and others who claim ‘illegal migrants’ are to blame lack evidence regarding their actual number in South Africa. Their arguments remain speculative, conjecture, undermining informed responses to this societal concern. This represents a notable shortcoming for the head of state and government,” the document reads.
Mbeki argues that the anti-immigrant groupings are doing the bidding of “counterrevolutionaries” by driving a wedge between South Africa and the rest of the continent, sabotaging efforts to achieve regional socioeconomic transformation. They are creating the conditions for the ANC’s defeat and destruction, and protecting the “counterrevolution”, with the country’s leaders failing to address the legacy of colonialism and apartheid.
“This illustrates the gravity of the error President Ramaphosa made,” says Mbeki, “when he effectively endorsed the false claim made by some people in our country that our country’s general crisis has been caused by illegal and therefore undocumented migrants! This therefore would take away our focus from the urgency of the task ahead, which is to rescue millions of our people from poverty and to guarantee them safety and security.”
Mbeki blames faceless “counterrevolutionaries” for the ANC’s failure to grow the economy, create jobs and ensure that a professional and well-run police service keeps citizens safe and upholds the law.
However, the Madlanga commission neatly illustrates the opposite — it is ANC members and leaders themselves who are deeply complicit in destroying the police.
Mbeki’s dislike of Ramaphosa, say insiders, harks back to the early days of the transition to democracy. From Ramaphosa’s appointment as the ANC’s chief negotiator with the apartheid government to his challenging Alfred Nzo for the post of secretary-general of the party and winning — Mbeki was never a fan.
What is strange is Mbeki’s outspoken criticism of Ramaphosa now, against his deafening silence throughout the years Zuma was actively breaking down state capacity, institution by institution.
Zuma’s onslaught on the Ramaphosa administration is both more direct and more insidious. His hand was shown to be part of the anti-immigrant mobilisation which peaked this week when the MK Party joined protests across the country. AmaBhungane revealed the close ties between the anti-immigrant organisation March and March and the Zuma family.
“While there is no evidence that Zuma himself is involved in manipulating the anti-immigrant sentiment, family networks and associates of the former president are at the heart of the loose alliance of entities driving the increasingly violent anti-immigrant movement spreading outwards from KZN,” amaBhungane reported this week.
Insiders in the ANC were convinced that Zuma’s plan was to use the anti-immigration protests to destabilise the country ahead of the election, much like the July riots ahead of the 2021 local polls. There were fears that the end goal could even be a coup.
Both Mbeki and Zuma are fighting to have retired justice Sisi Khampepe removed as chair of an inquiry investigating whether their administrations had interfered in the prosecution of apartheid-era crimes revealed at the Truth & Reconciliation Commission. The former political rivals are united in their opposition to Khampepe chairing the commission, which was set up by Ramaphosa as part of a court settlement with the families of victims of apartheid-era crimes.
Ramaphosa appointed Khampepe as the commission chair.
Her work has been hamstrung by the litigation. The commission was proclaimed in May last year and was initially given six months to conclude its work. Its lifespan has now been extended and it must provide Ramaphosa with a final report in December.
The work of this important commission could perhaps provide insight into why the pair of former presidents continue to hover malignantly over South Africa’s body politic.
Marrian is a political analyst at the Bureau for Economic Research
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