Five years ago, the country held its breath as the ANC voted for a new president – for the party and the country. It was by no means certain that Cyril Ramaphosa would oust Jacob Zuma, the man whose corrupt network brought the country the chilling phrase, “state capture”.
After some behind-the-scenes horse-trading, Ramaphosa triumphed over Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the figurehead for Jacob Zuma and his hangers-on, who became known as the radical economic transformation (RET) faction.
Ramaphosa’s election was the cue for hope that South Africa had reached a turning point, when the ANC’s “politics of the stomach” would be ditched in favour of genuine service to the people of SA.
Today, as the organisation gathers again at Nasrec, there are still some talking about it as a “fork in the road”… one way being democracy and clean government; the other being corruption, mismanagement and decline into failed state status.
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Sadly, Ramaphosa’s vaunted “new dawn” has, despite his proclaimed moves against corruption, proven to be largely an illusion. He himself is under a cloud over the Phala Phala saga through his refusal to be totally open about what went on – and the fact he was protected by the ANC’s parliamentary caucus, just as Zuma was.
The looting and mismanagement of Eskom has not only continued, it appears to have accelerated, turning this country into yet another African banana republic basket case.
Indeed, the fact the Eskom CEO could be accused of treason by Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and then by chief ANC clown Fikile Mbalula of knowing nothing about power generation, without so much as a word said in his defence by Ramaphosa, shows the ANC collectively decided to throw André de Ruyter under the bus.
Sadly, we are not at a turning point, we are continuing down the same road to Hell.
