Timing is everything in politics. And President Cyril Ramaphosa failed dismally to assert himself as head of state and statesman in his address to the nation on July 12. Most people hoped he would call a spade a spade on the looting of shops, the torching of trucks and barricading of main roads after the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma.
People thought he would kick-start his speech by reminding the nation of the reason Zuma had been incarcerated. He did not. As usual he waffled while the country was in flames. Why did he shy away from telling the nation that Zuma was imprisoned for contempt of the law and that it had nothing to do with him being a Zulu South African?
Why did he avoid to mention the stark reality that nobody is above the law? He never expressed a stern statement about those transgressing the law. He never even addressed these matters directly. He only alluded to the torching of trucks, the looting of shops and to things that had been vandalised.
There was no concrete commitment he made as the head of state. Citizens look up to him for decisive leadership during trying times like an army commander. He deliberately chose to play with words like a suitor expressing his love to a lady.
Mr President, SA has the highest unemployment rate, people are drowning in an ocean of poverty. Your dilly-dallying tactics or quiet diplomacy does not take this country far. Many industries and factories have been hit hard. It is common knowledge that businesses do not invest where there is economic and political instability. What will you do for the victims of this situation whose employers have closed down their businesses?
Some took a firm decision to pull out of the country. You and your cabinet failed people when they were awaiting clear direction during this very trying hour. Mr President, did you not see it coming long before Zuma went behind bars? Where were this country’s intelligence services that get slush funds and huge budgets to unearth secrets and expose threats?
Were you blind to the volcano that was gradually building up during the early days of the Nkandla visits and protest marches? Why did you not accept that Zuma’s followers were determined to bring everything literally to a grinding halt? Did your party prefer to betray the country through the ANC’s infighting and factions?
Where was your ubiquitous police minister Bheki Cele? Why did defence minister Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula not read between the lines about the situation? Seemingly you, Sir, and your cabinet are only concerned about your lives and being driven in cavalcades of expensive cars with wailing sirens. When local and national elections are around the corner the entire ANC leadership will play its political gimmick by bluffing voters with food parcels and officially opening infrastructure projects throughout the country. Your party will be pretending to be putting the citizens of this country first and prioritising their needs. Your address to the nation on Zuma and the looting matter missed a well-chiseled door of opportunity to give the country sound leadership. Posterity will judge you harshly Mr President as a leader who behaved as a boy among men instead of a man among boys!
You and your entire cabinet, chose to let the country go up in flames instead of suspending your differences in the ruling party and putting the safety of citizens first.
• Nkosi is a freelance journalist based in Durban
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