Nelson Mandela's chosen son to succeed him as president is finding it tough in the seat prepared for him by the elder statesman.
Since he won the Nasrec elective conference in December 2017 it has not been smooth sailing for President Cyril Ramaphosa's organisation, in particular with secretary-general Ace Magashule and Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKVA) spokesperson Carl Niehaus leading the rival radical economic transformation (RET) faction. Now the battle has even spread to Rwanda where it is alleged he was a target of spyware.
The recent incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma by the Constitutional Court after he was found guilty of contempt of court, sparked protests that ended up being used by looters to delegitimise his administration. This exposed his administration as incapable of dealing with information about the plot to sow instability in the country.
The conduct by his cabinet ministers shows they are not singing from the same hymn sheet. Police minister Bheki Cele denied he was given the information by state security minister Ayanda Dlodlo, who has repeatedly stated that police were afforded such information before the riots happened. One of the two is not telling the truth and that minister should have been fired by now.
Julius Malema, on the other hand, has been pressing hard to unseal the list of CR17 donations, in which it is alleged that his deputy is one of the donors. One may ask him when it was found by the former public protector that he was not paying tax, and some of his assets were recovered by the SA Revenue Service (Sars) to cover the R20m he owed, where did he get that money that made him owing R20m to Sars?
Who are those donors? Why is no-one interested to know at this stage who are these donors who made him owe such a lot of money to Sars? The formation of his party also came at a time it was alleged that he was broke, so who donated for this party to be formed? In SA, to donate is not a crime and these donations do not need to be divulged to anyone.
Covid-19 is another external challenge Ramaphosa is facing since March last year. Thus far he has been doing well because SA is the only African country that has so far managed produce vaccines to be used in the country and on the continent. This demonstrates a commitment to a long-term plan to normalise the country.
Ramaphosa's address on July 25 also opened opportunities to those who lost everything during the looting spree and the R350 social relief of distress grant has been reintroduced until March next year in trying to deal with poverty, unemployment and inequality, the brunt of which is borne by young people. As seen during the looting spree, hunger played a role in what was happening in the two provinces.
Education assistants at school level should be considered to be made permanent to make our schools more conducive to learning under this pandemic and in future, and to ease the burden teachers encounter on a daily basis from teaching, invigilation, marking, administration, keeping order, counselling of disruptive pupils and so on.
All these aspects test the strength of our democracy in terms of the three arms of the state – the executive, judiciary and legislature – in which all these are expected to play their role for the country to maintain its sovereignty and its constitutional democracy.
The courts are expected to make their rulings based on the laws that have been enacted by the parliamentarians. Thus far we do not have a law that prevents donations from private individuals or promotes the unsealing of donations by private individuals to whoever. Ramaphosa is not an exception in that regard.
All these are good to keep our democracy intact, as well as to test the capability and capacity of our state president as he continues with his mission to build this country, to inspire hope and confidence among all citizens and the global community to the extent that investors will keep bringing their businesses here despite all the challenges alluded to above.
He seems to be having huge support from civic organisations and ordinary citizens who believe in the rule of law.
• Maluleke is a PhD student at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) researching school governance in public and independent schools
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