October 2025 could well be remembered as one of South Africa’s most inglorious months since the so-called dawn of democracy in 1994. Certainly, it was a month of severe damage to the reputation and legacy of the ANC’s leadership corps and President Ramaphosa himself. But it was also a month of deep embarrassment for our country as a whole.
It was in October that we learnt about the cruel theft of billions from one Gauteng hospital – it is suggested that there could be many others – by ANC-linked “comrades” and the nephew of the President who, by chance, just happened to bump into this family member while walking in a Sandton street. Citizens looked on aghast at television videos showing the lavish ultra-extravagant manner in which these thieves spent their ill-gotten loot.
We heard the mind-boggling evidence emerging from the Madlanga Commission and the parliamentary ad hoc committee revealing a broken, shambolic criminal justice system brazenly interfered with by self-serving politicians and infected with corrupt judges, magistrates, prosecutors and policemen and women. It became obvious that many of the top-level leadership within SAPS are either faction- or greed-driven … or both.
The Phala Phala theft and other court cases added to the growing mysteries around alleged dubious financial transactions by members of the cabinet (executive). A media house continued with its very credible “unmasking” of the Deputy President’s own and his family’s financial wheeling and dealings and luxury property investments.
We were stunned by reports of the totally unexpected suicide – or was it? – of the South African ambassador in Paris, just days after the mention of this former Minister of Police’s name in the Madlanga Commission.
We were puzzled by an intriguing and dogged evasion of questions from the press about a hitherto unexplained private jet excursion to Libya by the ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula. This strengthened concerns about the ANC and its leaders’ undisclosed links to countries and organisations of global ill-repute.
Our media extensively covered the uncontrolled increasing gangsterism, murders and assaults in our streets, and the horrible bullying and child-abuse incidents in our schools.
During October 2025, the President seemingly failed again to appoint an “acceptable” ambassador or special envoy to the USA or reach a tariff deal with that country, even six months after the President’s embarrassing visit to the White House.
Depleted and dysfunctional
We learned more and more about our disastrous military involvement in the DRC and our once world-renowned but now depleted and dysfunctional naval and air forces.
Unemployment continues to rise, service-delivery failure protests increase and even in Johannesburg, the City of Gold and venue for the November G20 meeting, water supply remains unreliable and sometimes non-existent for weeks on end. The lack of real foreign and domestic investment, discouraged by the dogmatic retention by the ANC-dominated government of racial and red-tape-based legislation (all in the name of “transformation”), continues to condemn our country to a near zero per cent economic growth rate.
It was therefore absurd to hear “The Presidency” proudly announce on 31 October that Government’s so called economic reforms and programmes would lead to an economic growth rate of 3.5% in 2029. The President seems oblivious to the need for an immediate growth rate of double that to prevent South Africans becoming poorer by the day.
Leaders of our national sports associations, recently and most notably SAFA (SA Football Association), NSA (Netball SA) and ASA (Athletics SA) are alleged to have committed financial misdemeanours and governance irregularities. Our Sport, Arts and Culture Minister set a questionable example with his penchant for luxury travel and accommodation, funding favouritism, his F1 vanity project and his dubious personal financial history.
In October 2025 a former President, now the leader of the MK Party, the Official Opposition, was ordered by the court to refund the state some R28 million it incurred in paying his personal legal fees. And not only our own media, but also the BBC announced the conviction of the leader of the EFF, Julius Malema, of being illegally in possession of a firearm and discharging it in public
Two Members of Parliament were accused of reckless handling of classified information and in retaliation, one of the accused MPs laid charges against our National Police Commissioner and his accuser, the Provincial Police Commissioner in KZN.
Rather embarrassingly
October 2025 also saw the rather half-hearted launch of a new political party, Unite For Change, comprising three parties that currently and rather embarrassingly hold a mere 1.25% of the National Assembly seats: (Rise Mzansi. BOSA and Good). Apart from adding one more party to the already 600 + in our political space, this new party only exists at this stage for the purpose of contesting the municipal elections scheduled for late 2026 or early 2027.
The launch did not raise too much of a reaction from the media or other political players, which was not surprising given that its current leadership corps and individual party-appointed representatives at National and Provincial level will remain in their respective secure, comfortable and well-paid political positions, possibly for as long as the next four years. This leadership corps includes the current GNU Minister De Lille, who has been a member of five political parties in her somewhat hop, skip and jump political career.
In the midst of these domestic crises, our President has been largely out of the country, with trips in October, inter alia to Ireland, Belgium, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Switzerland, adding to the dozen or so international trips taken by him in this year.
He regularly leaves the country in the even worse presidential hands of his Deputy, Paul Mashatile, and anyone who had the misfortune to witness this Acting President answering “questions to the President” on 30 October in our Parliament would have been struck by the immaturity, glibness and sheer triviality of the man who is potentially the next president of our country.
Our peripatetic president absents himself from the domestic crises of the day to focus on other lofty global distractions such as state visits, attending conferences and conventions and his soon to be terminated G20 presidency, none of which activities seem to be of real relevance or benefit to the struggling citizens he is supposed to serve.
He continues to give the impression of someone chasing an illusionary “global statesman” mirage, adding to the perception that he is becoming a fugitive from the SA reality, seemingly satisfied that evincing a show of unity with his GNU leaders after a two-day meeting is all he needs to do to convince South Africans that his presidency is thriving and delivering all things good for the nation.
Master’s degree in narcissism
Whilst President Trump has a Master’s degree in narcissism, our own President with his favourite “whether you like it or not … finished and klaar…watch this space”, and other dismissive rhetoric in response to any criticism, he is, like Trump, very satisfied with his own superior political wisdom, and deriding those that query his judgement and decisions, variously labelling them as racist, anti-transformation or torch-bearers for continued colonialism and apartheid.
The reality is that October 2025 brought our country’s murderers, mobsters, manipulators and high-level political and public service miscreants sharply into the spotlight. With its scandals, public protests and reports of governance incompetence and failures here, there and everywhere, it revealed just how much of a sham the GNU’s so-called progress and performance really is. It confirmed how this President has for years tolerated mediocrity, turned a blind eye to corruption, has allowed our fiscus to be stripped bare and has for too long presided with his ANC comrades over a nation seriously in decline – bankrupt of political unity, vision, reality, morality and courage.
The events, incidents and revelations of October 2025, so easily overlooked by fatigued citizens or overtaken by new daily domestic pressures and global dramas, should be a sharp reminder to South Africans that their government is failing to uphold the most basic of our constitutional imperatives: the rule of law, freedom of the individual and human dignity. They shows ample evidence of the urgent need for a new kind of political leadership team, to ensure that our country realises its potential to provide progress, peace and relative prosperity for all its citizens.
[Image: Chickenonline from Pixabay]
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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