President must prove he cares, not have feet of clay
Who would want to be president of SA? It is not for the timid. And one certainly wouldn’t do it for the money, given that executives at our state-owned entities earn as much, or more, than the man or woman who occupies the corner office at the Union Buildings. It’s not for praise or even gratitude from the masses, who are quick to blame and slow to understand just how difficult the top job is. The thankless experience of ruling SA brings to mind the maudlin commentary on leadership offered by the fabled South American liberator Simon Bolivar, who likened his time in office to “ploughing the sea”. A waste of time and effort, really.
Such thoughts may be uppermost in the mind of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who must be looking back on a calamitous week in which the currency of violence and intolerance that oils the wheels of public discourse in SA was freely traded.
Toxic masculinity and a culture of impunity saw a young university student raped and murdered in a post office, a tragedy that galvanised the nation and threw a long overdue spotlight on the wholesale abuse of our women and children.
On our streets, lawless mobs gave graphic content to the xenophobic tendencies of our politicians, rampaging and looting the shops of hard-working foreigners, mostly Africans.
It is at a time like this that our leaders, and in particular Ramaphosa, are called upon to help heal the nation, to give direction amid the anarchy, and to offer hope of a better future emerging from the despair that has gripped SA.
Yet Ramaphosa was largely missing in action this week, a fact quickly picked up on social media, where critics blasted him for his apparent indifference.
When he did eventually break his silence, in an address to the nation on Thursday evening, it was too little, too late. Ramaphosa, once again, was left looking like an observer rather than the man of action.
Such is the lack of direction from the president that many, even his supporters, are asking whether he is the right person for the job. The high hopes that many had after he beat the state-capture crew of the ANC in
December 2017 are being eroded. Ramaphosa seems like a hare stuck in the headlights, mesmerised by process, unable to grasp the hopes and dreams and fears of the ordinary person, estranged from reality, remote.
Much is made of his need to keep the ANC together, “unified” despite the obvious opposition he has encountered from those in the party who lost out in 2017. But this “unity”, which we are told is all important, is being forged at the cost of action, and at the expense of ordinary citizens. In trying to please all, Ramaphosa pleases no-one.
The Zondo commission has become a permanent fixture in our lives — entertaining up to a point, but something of a pointless charade. The National Prosecuting Authority seems especially dormant at a time when we would have expected it to be in overdrive.
And through all this, promises, fine words, ringing declarations. But little action. Finance minister Tito Mboweni advances the most cautious of remedies to our economic malaise, but his efforts are buried by a tsunami of hostility from the vested interests and unions that helped put Ramaphosa in power. And has he said a word that indicates that he backs Mboweni, or supports his intent? Or would that annoy his critics in the ANC?
In the last election, young people especially demonstrated that they have little faith in our formal political process. And, increasingly, anyone who wants something done in a hurry realises that protest and burning are what our leaders react to.
Who would want to be Ramaphosa as he surveys this landscape of lawlessness and anarchy? With a constitution geared for rights but not action, and a ruling party rooted in the past, his is not a job for the fainthearted.
But amid institutional paralysis and fixation with process, the least SA expects from Ramaphosa is to show he cares. This was not obvious from his performance this week.
Currency of violence and intolerance oils wheels of public discourse