NOTES ON WHY RAMAPHOSA IS UNDER SO MUCH PRESSURE

SOME NOTES ON WHY PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA IS UNDER PREASSURE

Dumisani Tembe

The first, and probably the main one, is the cumulative character of South Africa’s socio-economic problems that mainly afflict the black majority. These are: poverty; hunger; homelessness; lack of water and sanitation; unemployment; and joblessness. In short, abject poverty. So, it is not so much that South Africans are not finding jobs, they are actually losing jobs. This has been on the rise since the dawn of liberal democracy. As these social ills accumulate, so is the level of frustration and despair among South Africans.  Thus, President Ramaphosa assumes the presidency in an environment of these escalating social ills, and in the process, he inherits inherent frustrations. In short, the immense pressure on president Ramaphosa is reflection of the worsening material conditions in the country that are at a point of hopelessness amongst the black poor majority.

 

·   Secondly, the pressure on Ramaphosa is a manifestation of the loss of trust on the governing African National Congress (ANC). After all, Ramaphosa sits at the peak of the ruling ANC leadership. The ANC is continuously failing to deliver on a “Better Life for All” that it eloquently so articulated back in 1994. The promise of a “better life for all” has been replaced by the reality of ANC’s factional better life for a few. I do not take social grants as a development success. This is just a dependency system that drains state coffers without ploughing back. Ramaphosa therefore, is the current personification of ANC’s developmental failures.

 

·         Thirdly, the pressure on Ramaphosa is a manifestation of the challenges of his own government, and in the main, the presidency. Successive ANC presidents have not been able to steer the government through a visible developmental pathing. Throughout all elections, since 1994, the ANC has presented its prospective presidents as the incoming saviours that will solve South Africa’s problems “phakama Ramaphosa, ixesha lisondele/lifikile” – so they sang!  In other words, ANC electioneerings set up its own presidents for pressure.

Fourthly, the pressure is personal. President Ramaphosa induced this pressure through the promises he made to the electorate as he campaigned to be ANC president.  The last ANC presidential campaign was fought rather on a broad electorate platform than merely on ANC platforms. That was simply because it reflected the national crises of corruption and underdevelopment. So, the ANC presidential election were in essence, the national presidential elections. In this context, Ramaphosa promised a “New Dawn” which included dealing effectively with corruption; and the creation of jobs – both are wanting!  Therefore, Ramaphosa is partly responsible for the immense pressure he finds himself under intense pressure given his own ANC electoral promises.

From the above, it is clear that the isolated immense pressure focus on Ramaphosa, is reductionist, and in some quarters, rather opportunist. It is reductionist because Ramaphosa is the personification of the ANC he represents. Ramaphosa’s presidency is a reflection of the epitome of the ANC’s leadership collective. The policies he implements; and the cabinet collective he selects and works with, is an ANC product. Ramaphosa’s performance as state president, is direct manifestation of the collective ANC. Thus, pressurizing  Ramaphosa on his failure in the greater scheme of development, is rather reductionist.

Fact is, there is direct relationship between the quality and status of the ruling party, and the performance of the government the party leads. The growth of China is a direct consequence of the quality of the Communist Party of China at an organisational level. Similarly, Cuba is able to provide medical assistance across the world because of the quality of the Communist Party in Cuba. 

The ANC is so fragile intellectually; ideologically and factionally that it lacks cohesion and discipline. The fractionalism of the ANC at an organisational level, manifests itself in government weaknesses. So, Ramaphosa and his government will not perform maximally when their own ruling party they come from is fractured in all respects. The difficulty, therefore, is that government cannot run ethically, effectively, and respond to citizens needs timeously with a fragile ruling ANC.

Here is the quagmire Ramaphosa faces: Either first fix the ANC; or the government he leads. Fact is, Ramaphosa can not fix government of a fractured ruling party. As it is, the ANC  cannot be fixed. It can rebirth if it is willing to first die. Material factionalism is so entrenched in the ANC that the ANC has ceased to be a movement, but a collection of groupings seeking higher government positions and influence for their own individual material well-being.  Ramaphosa cant undo this. He can wish it away but cannot solve it. There are just too many beneficiaries of the fragile ANC to prefer any other alternative organisational wellbeing. 

The Covid-19 is not the source of the immense pressure on Ramaphosa. It merely crystalised South Africa’s inequality mainly reflected on race, class, and gender. The main pressure on Ramaphosa over the Covid-19 comes from the big industry that produces tobacco products, and top some extent, alcohol. This has been fairly easy for Ramaphosa to absorb.

 

The sum total of the pressure on Ramaphosa is not just personal. Any other person that would have been the president would also suffer same level of pressure. As long as the material conditions of the majority of South Africans go opposite the “better life for all”, pleasure will mount on whoever is the current president; the ruling party; and the government of the day.

·         @KunjaloD (Twitter)

·         Dumisani15@icloud.com

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