President Ramaphosa continues to display a crass and blatant disregard for the pleas of so many civil society organisations, political commentators and ordinary citizens to not dump yet another costly, laborious and dilatory Commission of Inquiry on our nation. The dubious dead-end destiny of these commissions is well known to all South Africans.
The President’s “kick for touch” strategy whenever it comes to dealing with alleged or actual high-level corruption in government and public sector circles, is, however, now seriously damaging and delaying the effective application of the rule of law. It is diluting and defusing proper processes to ensure accountability, consequence management and punishment for those involved.
A cauldron of uncontrolled crime and corruption is erupting all over, but he continues to sidestep the long-awaited and desperately needed establishment of a Chapter 9 Anti-Corruption Commission, totally independent of the executive. He even tolerates and protects corruption-accused members within his cabinet.
His crisis-riddled, ill-constructed, internally-conflicted government of national unity, the GNU, is failing to provide the collective political will, managerial dynamism and sense of urgency required to effectively deal with nationally critical issues such as rampant crime, the achievement of real economic growth, the removal of obstacles to foreign and domestic investment, the application of consistent and untainted foreign policy, the reduction of national debt and the repair of our disintegrating socio-economic infrastructure. This failure of leadership reflects as much on the President as it does on his mish-mash executive that he personally selected and appointed.
The President continues to use diversionary, delaying and disingenuous tactics, such as the appointment of commissions, advisory committees and panels, etc., and now his theatrically staged costly National Dialogue, to avoid taking desperately needed, urgent, pro-active game-changing decisions and actions in respect of the above-mentioned issues, and getting our country and its government to function in top gear as soon as possible.
Reluctance
His recent reluctance to hold a face-to-face press briefing, and field the multitude of potentially penetrating and still unanswered questions that the Press are desperately keen to ask him, reflects his own doubts about his ability to respond with full transparency, integrity and confidence.
The President appears to bask in his inflated assessment of his and our country’s international standing. This too is self-delusion. His Presidency of the G20 has been underwhelming and has diverted his attention away from our own grassroots problems. His mediation roles in Russia and elsewhere have been charade-like, and his visit to the White House was an embarrassment. His one-sided view of the Israeli/ Gaza/ Hamas conflict and the action that he and the Hamas-friendly Naledi Pandor took at the ICJ have made enemies of our former friends. His trying to punch above his weight on the global stage has yielded no tangible results for our country, and the recent emerging processes in the US Congress calling for sanctions and penalties against him and SA are of deep concern.
He is increasingly coming across as a “lame duck, never complain, never explain” President, caught in his own web of dubious dealings, prevarication, deflection and deceit.
His “same old, same old” clichéd speeches filled with plans, promises, proposals and programmes mean nothing to the people on the ground, and only find credibility with his sycophantic ANC parliamentary caucus and his appointed cadres.
Constantly assuring our citizens with his smooth persuasive words that he is in control and that all will be well does not cut it anymore. His still ANC-led government’s failures are, day in and day out, staring us in the face. Nobody can seriously deny that under his watch, South Africa has fallen into a government-induced state of worsening political disarray, socio-economic decline and financial distress. And it worsens every day.
Exert his command
He can surely no longer expect the confidence of our nation and be trusted to exert his command over his compromised executive or decisively lead our fatigued and frustrated nation out of stagnation and retrogression.
Motions of no confidence in the President should not be threatened lightly or moved by parliamentary parties based on personal revenge, political posturing or even deep ideological differences – such as might be moved by the MK or EFF. They should be founded on sincere concerns about the President’s capacity and ability to honourably and competently fulfil his constitutional obligations and effectively promote, preserve and protect the provisions of the Constitution.
The DA has voiced these concerns recently – in my view with merit, integrity and patriotic purpose ̶ but has failed to follow through on its threat to move such a motion. Now that the MK party has proposed its own motion, the DA, having lost the initiative and the opportunity to drive the debate in Parliament, will be forced to respond.
Does it or does it not have confidence in President Ramaphosa and why? Does it vote for, against or abstain?
The President has often dealt with the DA in a patronising, condescending and sometimes insulting manner, and simply proceeds with his and his party’s agendas as if the DA did not exist. Certainly, the Secretary General of the ANC, Fikile Mbalula ̶ a man recently described as one of Lilliputian intelligence ̶ and many of his colleagues openly display their hostility towards the DA.
The President tolerates this and perhaps even encourages a diatribe from his party against the DA: a coalition member of his GNU, and which actually gave up its “Official Opposition” status, inter alia, to protect and preserve his presidency. But even all this seems to provide no appropriate reason for the DA to move a no-confidence motion against him.
Fundamental neglect
However, under these critical and deteriorating political and economic circumstances, and given the increasing political impotence, immobility and intransigence of this “whether you like it or not”, cash-in-couches, thoroughly compromised President, the continued absence of the DA’s own motion of no-confidence reflects a fundamental neglect of its parliamentary duty, and of its commitment to its support base and its responsibility to citizens who are, in any event, increasingly demonstrating their own impatience and disillusionment with the man himself and his government.
[Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/governmentza/54369756952]
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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