'Feigning ignorance has become Ramaphosa’s trademark'

Prof. Sipho Seepe

The remark by ANC insiders that “Ramaphosa had quietly entered the ‘departure lounge’” arguably expresses a growing sense of disquiet about Ramaphosa’s leadership. Ramaphosa found himself having to backtrack after he urged ANC members to learn from the DA.

Ramaphosa remarked that in terms of the auditor-general reports, “municipalities that do best are not ANC-controlled municipalities… they are often DA-controlled municipalities.”   

For Helen Zille, the DA’s Federal Council Chair, this was manna from heaven.

The timing couldn’t have been perfect. For Zille, this was an unequivocal endorsement of the DA and for her campaign to be the next mayor of Johannesburg. This is not the first time Ramaphosa’s authority has been found wanting and undermined.

Two years ago, Minister Gwede Mantashe refused to attend a top-level meeting held by President Cyril Ramaphosa with the leaders from the Netherlands and Denmark. Mantashe dared the President to fire him. Mantashe refused to attend the signing of a green-energy memorandum of understanding.

In what many had described as a self-induced injury, Ramaphosa sparked controversy when addressing the National Convention. Ramaphosa asked. “Why do so many people live in abject poverty… Why, after decades of democracy, are the prospects for a white child so much better than those of a black child? Why do women get paid less than men for the same work? Why, when we have a Bill of Rights, are LGBTQI+ people still discriminated against, stigmatised, and harassed? Why do clinics run out of medicine? Why do taps run dry?”

Incredulously, Ramaphosa comes across as someone oblivious to the fact that these are the very questions his party and administration should be responding to. Feigning ignorance has become Ramaphosa’s trademark. A fitting riposte to Ramaphosa came from Dr. Naledi Pandor, the former Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation.

Delivering the Gertrude Shope Memorial Lecture, Pandor could not have captured the sense of broadly shared outrage. She retorted. “There is nothing worse in an organisation, or in a country, than a leader who has no solution… The people are looking to us to solve it.”

Ramaphosa is damaged goods. The Phala Phala scandal has destroyed whatever credibility he had left. He is increasingly losing influence within and outside the ANC. With Phala Phala hanging over his head, he is not in a position to take bold steps without fear of a backlash.

Dr Mathew Phosa, the former ANC treasurer-general and Premier of Mpumalanga, is spot on in his observation. “From where I sit, I never thought Phala Phala would go away… Phala Phala will still not die.”

Tokyo Sexwale, a former comrade-in-arms and a former premier of Gauteng, once falsely accused of plotting to unseat President Thabo Mbeki with Dr. Phosa, cut to the chase in remarking about the Phala Phala imbroglio. “It’s a cock and bull story. It’s a childish story. Somebody just came to buy cattle… I’m not even aware what Sars did and what the police did.”

Hitting the nail in Ramaphosa’s political coffin, the former chief justice Raymond Zondo, who himself is no angel, has also joined the fray by arguing that Ramaphosa’s failure to resign following the Phala Phala revelations has set the fight against corruption back.

No amount of cover-up by the law enforcement agencies and the courts would make the Phala Phala scandal disappear. While these are early days, there are disturbing testimonies and facts coming out of the judicial commission established to investigate serious allegations of corruption and political interference within South Africa’s criminal justice system.

The testimonies deposed by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General Mkhwanazi and the National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola have arguably drawn Ramaphosa into the shady activities of political interference in the operations of the police.

Should these be proven to be true, Ramaphosa risks being accused of political interference and defeating the ends of justice.

Mkhwanazi provided an insight into the functioning of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), pointing out that it is a prosecutorial-guided police investigation multi-agency integrated structure supported by the NPA and security agencies. He emphasised that the PKTT directly reports to the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC), chaired by the police minister.

The IMC provides strategic direction and oversight for the PKTT and, in turn, reports to the President. In his submission to the Commission, Lt-General Mkhwanazi sought to highlight the success of the PKTT.

From 612 assigned cases since 2018, 401 suspects arrested and charged, 55 firearms recovered from suspects, which have been linked through ballistics to other politically related cases. An additional 35 SAPS members were arrested and charged with attempting to defeat the course of justice in these cases.

“These figures demonstrate… the systematic approach adopted by the team to ensure accountability through investigation, prosecution, and finalisation of cases.”

Based on its success, PKTT was approached to assist with Gauteng Counter-Intelligence Operation (GCI Ops) investigations. It had become apparent to GCI Ops that there was “apparent association of SAPS officials of all ranks with persons who are subjects of investigations, threats made against the investigators… growing concern of infiltration of the police”.

All factors considered, Mkhwanazi argued that Minister Senzo Mchunu’s decision to disband PKTT was not only irrational and irregular but was possibly unlawful. It was a decision taken without consulting stakeholders and functionaries responsible for policing and investigations in KZN.

Mkhwanazi suggested that it would be prudent for the National Commissioner to seek an audience with the President to establish whether he was aware of the Minister’s directive. The matter was of such grave concern that the National Commissioner duly informed the president.

Nothing came of it.

The President’s seeming inaction could easily be read as a tacit endorsement of the decision taken by Minister Mchunu. The President’s position is not helped by emerging testimonies which suggest that Minister Mchunu has had alleged links with the crime syndicate operating in Gauteng.

In what could be echoes of Marikana, Mkhwanazi fell short of directly accusing the Presidency of interfering with the police operations in favour of a mining company Richards Bay Minerals (RBM).

In 2021, Mkhwanazi had deployed detectives from SAPS provincial headquarters in Durban to investigate the killings of RBM executives in Richards Bay. The detectives were recalled a year later, having made little progress in resolving the cases assigned to them.

“Little did I know that RBM had contacts in high levels of our government, because what followed after that was a call I received from National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola … he said, ‘I received a complaint from the Presidency. You must send these [detectives] back.’”

This testimony does not augur well for Ramaphosa. MKP has been quick to point out that the Presidency’s alleged intervention “constitutes the capture of state security resources for the narrow benefit of a private multinational… while ordinary South Africans continue to face violent crime, gender-based violence and lawlessness without adequate protection.”

President Ramaphosa may have thought that the Madlanga Commission would buy him time, but it may prove to be his undoing. It never rains, but it pours for him.

* Professor Sipho P. Seepe, Higher Education and Strategy Consultant.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.