Everyone who has a brain now knows that Cyril Ramaphosa is a useless president. We now know that we are dealing with a spin-doctor president who enjoys his own lies.
Consider, for example, one of the lies he told in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last Thursday: “New post-apartheid cities are being conceptualised in a number of places in our country.”
Where, Mr President?
It has been more than a quarter of a century since the fall of apartheid, and it is only now that Ramaphosa is telling us about “new post-apartheid cities” that “are being conceptualised”. Can anyone guess as to how many years it will take to build Ramaphosa’s new cities?
As for Ramaphosa’s imaginary Lanseria Smart City, he knows that nothing of that sort will happen, which is why he promises that his mirage of a city will materialise “within the next decade” – when he will be out of office.
In 2021, Ramaphosa promises three things: “defeat the coronavirus pandemic”; “implement economic reforms to create sustainable jobs and drive inclusive growth”; and “fight corruption and strengthen the state.”
Ramaphosa did not apologise for the bungle involving the one million expired and inefficacious AstraZeneca vaccines. Instead, he promised to “defeat the coronavirus pandemic”.
Interestingly, Ramaphosa is no longer promising to vaccinate 67% of South Africa’s population by the end of this year. Instead, he says the AstraZeneca bungle will affect “the pace, design and sequencing of our vaccine programme”.
In simple English, it means that the 67% commitment made last month will no longer happen. It also means that Ramaphosa does not know how many South Africans will be vaccinated this year. In other words, his government will not defeat the coronavirus pandemic in 2021.
The promise to “implement economic reforms to create sustainable jobs and drive inclusive growth” is the most ludicrous.
Ramaphosa could not fix a single state-owned company before the coronavirus. He watched things fall apart at SAA, the SABC, Denel and so on. Unemployment continued to rise while he delivered a recovery plan after another. Jobless people who believe that Ramaphosa will create work for them will starve.
Here is the truth: Over the past 26 years, the ANC has made it clear that what it knows best is to demolish, not to build.
We are told that “more than 125,000 new companies were registered” last year. What Ramaphosa is not telling you is that these include companies registered by his ANC comrades to steal PPE money. You are also not told how many real businesses collapsed in 2020.
Ramaphosa has repeated the same promise he made before: splitting Eskom into three entities. He makes a promise and keep quiet for a few years, and comeback to make the same promise again. All we know is that loadshedding is here to stay.
Ramaphosa was at his most embarrassing when tiptoeing around corruption, mentioning the Zondo Commission as if he was not part of the same ANC that has been using state institutions to steal money.
Here is Ramaposa’s solution to corruption in South Africa: “We will shortly be appointing members of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council, which is a … statutory anti-corruption body that reports to Parliament.”
What a load of nonsense! When ANC comrades are found to have stolen PPE money, you do not need a National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council. All you need to do is arrest and prosecute them.
When there is evidence that ANC thieves have used the State Security Agency to steal money, you do not need a National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council. All you need to do is arrest and prosecute them.
What Ramaphosa is not telling us is why his comrades are not arrested. We know that PPE money has been stolen, but we do not know of at least one ANC comrade who is in jail.
When he began delivering his Sona, President Cyril Ramaphosa looked exhausted and depressed. As the speech went on, he began to enjoy his own fiction, snapping fingers and smiling like an animated spin doctor.
Alas, it was all sound and fury signifying nothing. It was like being promised ice cream in winter by a penniless uncle.
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