No idea where we’re headed with our reluctant leader

Unlike the majority of SA graduates (of all races) I have no intention of emigrating. However, in 2024 I may prove to be in the majority (of all races) by not voting for the ANC, despite having done so in the past.

It is unlikely that President Cyril Ramaphosa will read this, as his bemused response to many scandals indicates that he doesn’t read newspapers. Pity. If he only glanced at the headlines he would have a better understanding of what ails the nation he ostensibly leads.

A poll in 2022 registered that 53% of respondents with university qualifications were considering moving abroad. That may be a commendable desire to broaden horizons, but a more recent statistic is a damning verdict on Ramaphosa’s time in office.

In February, another survey revealed that a large majority of citizens said they would prefer their children to live and work abroad. Did the president’s advisers inform him that a shocking 67% of black respondents indicated they too would like their children to have a future beyond our shores?

Though formerly a canny trade unionist, shrewd negotiator and successful entrepreneur, five years in the highest office have revealed that Ramaphosa is neither a natural nor a national leader.

CONTRADICT HIM

It’s apparent that he doesn’t have sufficient fire in his belly to fight warring ANC factions. Last week it was reported that he was briefed about ANC councillors who carry knives and stab party rivals. He knows all about that, metaphorically. These days influential comrades even contradict him publicly.

Another clear fact that emerged from that Social Research Foundation poll is that most parents, of all races, see a better life for their children in the West. Not Russia. Nor China. This starkly exposes how out of touch most ANC leaders are, many addicted to clapped-out, quasi-revolutionary rhetoric.

Ramaphosa began his presidency with a denunciation of “nine wasted years”, but it’s no longer enough not to be Jacob Zuma. He hasn’t so much wasted his time, as hedged, hesitated and drifted. At a minimum, leadership is about setting a direction of travel. With him we’ve no idea where we’re headed. The country cries out for a lead or inspiration. That, it seems, is beyond his repertoire.

No wonder protests of despair proliferate. In May I tried to help a middle-aged woman who still lives in a shack despite having applied 18 years ago for housing assistance, and still has the reference number. Here is the verbatim reply: “We are currently assisting applicants with 1991 and earlier application dates in general and have unfortunately not reached 2005 application dates for allocation.”

To be blunt, she will be dead by the time her turn comes around. This failure is replicated in so many areas, particularly for the poor.

Most damningly, since Ramaphosa ascended to the highest office citizens continue to lose faith, not only in politics and politicians but in the capability of the state to provide basic levels of assistance for education, security, hospitals and so much more.

Once “make SA ungovernable” was an insurrectionary slogan. Now Ramaphosa’s administration, by sheer incompetence, is making that a lived reality, most of all for those who live in townships. Increasingly doubts surface: are we a failing or a failed state? If the answer is not yet, or not quite, it is only because of the fortitude, patience and ingenuity of South Africans.

IN THE TIME THAT HE HAS LEFT IN OFFICE HE COULD SERVE HIS COUNTRY BY FINALLY DISPLAYING RESOLVE

For now, what we can conclude on the evidence is that Ramaphosa is a failed president.

What to do? Every day I feel buoyed by small, usually overlooked marvels performed by ordinary citizens. In the face of mounting adversity, there remains resilient humour, reserves of generosity and surprising acts of kindness.

My concern is that the president is so isolated by his wealth and position that he finds no inspiration from such mundane decency and is therefore rendered personally uninspiring.

But in the words of an old graffito: this is no time for pessimism. Ramaphosa’s ANC colleagues may well defenestrate him after the 2024 election. In the time that he has left in office he could serve his country by finally displaying resolve. Dismiss inept and shady ministers. Retire cabinet fossils who dwell in the past and are bereft of fresh ideas.

He probably despises these mediocrities anyway. If able to summon sufficient will he could make it near impossible for any successor to plough on with exhausted rhetoric, moribund policies and impoverishing old habits.

What does Ramaphosa have to lose? He needs to act, so that SA may yet remember him kindly.