For once I am not ranting and raving. About ten days ago an article appeared in the NY Times magazine, titled "Could Cyril Ramaphosa Be the Best Leader South Africa Has not Yet Had?" Although I have some bones to pick with the author,Bill Keller, he does sometimes gets it very right. Go Google, I would be interested what you have to say.
His sentence "The fastest growing party in SA, is the party of non-voters, the disillusioned" hit a chord with me. So true. Enter Dr. Ramphele. According to the Sunday papers, this woman of enormous integrity and gravitas, is on the hunt for financial backers and good people to stock up her potential party. The professional politicos estimate, that she might just win 2-3% of the voting population vote. Every chip off the ANC granite, is a step forward.
Would I vote for her? I do not think so, for one thing she is for maintaining the BEE. Do I salute her entry into the political arena? Yes, yes, yes. Every honest politician of integrity is more than welcome. Her debut into the SA political scene can only be cheered on.
Back to Bill Keller's article. What bothered me here is not what was said, but rather what was left out. Cyril is presented as Mandela's protégé. Unsaid is that Jacob Zuma was also a Mandela protégé, and oh what a disaster his presidency has been! I remember well that Mandela twice got onto the political stage to endorse Jacob Zuma as president of SA. If this was an old age weakness or a Don Quixote mistake, I cannot judge.
A photo of Ramaphosa in the pose of Rodin's thinker accompanied the article. Solid thinking would do SA politics a lot of good, but what we need is a doer, someone who gets things done!
The fact that Mr. Ramaphosa has accumulated a fortune of $675million and sits on the boards of 100 SA companies while 40% of the SA population live on less than $2 a day, is hardly questioned. The question "Is this man honest?" is never askedAs far as Lonmin is concerned, Cyril's companies only owned 9% and the other buggers are the guilty ones.
One cannot sweep under the carpet all the injustices that Cyril and his family experience under the Apartheid government, displacement and solitary confinement (11months of it!) One wonders if one can be a fair and just ruler after having experienced so much brutality?
One of Cyril's much quoted sayings, is that SA should be run like McDonald's. I can not help reading between the political lines. Are we the people of SA to be stuffed with cheap political crap which never satisfies us, but leaves us bloated fat and incapable of critical thinking?
After all he has experienced, I can accept that Ramaphosa is an ANC man. However when I see the company he keeps,i.e. Jacob Zuma, it is here that my doubts start and won't leave off.
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