President Cyril Ramaphosa must cut loose his detractors and manage the consequences

MR President, South Africa’s leadership appears rudderless. It feels like ministers have the akekh’ ugogo (granny isn’t home, let’s party) vibe every day. There’s also no evidence that you, Mr President, have any inclination to exercise the powers vested in the office of the president.

Apparently you’re conflict averse; in that case you shouldn’t be a head of state. Let’s start with the Guptaesque ANC decision to hitch a ride to Zimbabwe on a Falcon 900, the army jet customarily reserved for the deputy president. It made a mockery of your alleged, or is it professed, drive to clean up government. The plain truth is that this was an in-your-face “f” word to the separation of powers between state and party. It came as no surprise that the leader of this exercise of abuse of state resources was that objectionable fellow, uBaba’s BFF, Ace Magashule, accompanied by his band of malcontents. It’s a push back, Mr President, after you blindsided them in the recent meeting of the national executive committee of your faction-riddled party.

In a move out of uBaba’s handbook, How Not to Govern a Country, you’re still studying the report that you demanded from the Minister of Defence. Simultaneously, your Department of Home Affairs is investigating, and so is the Transport ministry. It’s a concoction of investigations that will amount to nothing because the head is nothing but a weakling, and these people know it. Mr President, if you are to nip this culture of impunity in the bud, your bark must be louder than a whisper, and your bite must sting like a bee. So, fire Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula with immediate effect. Censure Ace and order him to stay at his home address in the Free State for 14 days without his laptop and a cell-phone.

Everyone who boarded that “f” word junket to Zimbabwe must be quarantined and tested for Covid-19 immediately. Repay the taxpayers’ money and issue a sincere apology to us. Govern. Lead. Decide. Grow a robust spine.

Otherwise, there’s no point in having you as president if you spend all your waking hours consulting people we didn’t elect. Perhaps you’re in the office but not in power — no wonder all the minnows are out playing truant during governing hours. Your presidency has the look and feel of an orchestrated and well-choreographed lame duck of a second-term president. The people of South Africa deserve better. The ancient idea that it’s probably better to have your enemies inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in, has run its course. Cut them loose, Mr President, now, and to hell with the consequences. Perhaps the Hawks will catch up with them soon. There is no room for the long game anymore. You’re left with less than 48 months in power.

Speaking of which, I see that your co-governors, including that moribund structure known as Nedlac (National Economic Development and Labour Council), have agreed on the new economic recovery plan. Let’s just say my mother taught me that too many cooks spoil the broth. Thus, one bit of advice for the future: the best economic policies are imposed on society, and they are meant to send shock waves across the land, as did Thabo Mbeki’s Gear policy.

Early indications are that this much vaunted post-Covid-19 economic recovery is stillborn, as evidenced by the conspicuous silence from Ace and his revolutionary alliance secretariat. If it was worth the paper it was written on, Ace would be up in arms, peeing inside as well as outside the tent with gay abandon.

I still really want to know who runs this country. Take the recent Clicks racist advert debacle — it got away with murder. All we got from your government was a feeble cabinet statement condemning the incident. Instead, you handed the political platform to the Red Berets (EFF) who used thuggery to respond to the genuine concerns of your people. This ragtag army used and abused your wishy-washy style of leadership for its own nefarious political ends. Everyone, from journalists to Clicks’ executives and related parties, were beaten into submission.

In the end, they appeared, at least among the Twitterites, as the parliament of the people. This alone fortifies my submission that the lack of leadership at the top means the goats are in the same kraal as the hyenas. It’s a lethal cocktail.

Till next week my man, in the meantime, govern as you see fit. Anyway, it is not my circus, not my monkeys. “Send me.”

This Letter from Mahlamba Ndlopfu is written by Bhekisisa Mncube, a Zulu ambassador based in Pretoria. He is also an author of the Love Diary of a Zulu Boy (memoir) and former senior Witness (Media24) political journalist.

This opinion piece was first published in the Witness.