Ramaphosa has shown signs of serious moral deficit

Errol Horwitz, Cape Town

Verwoerd is unquestionably enamoured with Ramaphosa’s “charming, disarming [and] conciliatory” qualities.

It is true when one digs into the apple barrel of ANC elites, that Ramaphosa does not seem to be one of the rotten apples. This, however, does not necessarily mean, as Verwoerd believes, South Africa can correct its course under Ramaphosa’s leadership.

There is another side to Ramaphosa that cannot be ignored, and which militates against giving him the keys to the kingdom.

For years Ramaphosa refused to dust off his moral compass. His blind loyalty to the ANC collective was absolute. His silence following multiple instances of corruption and looting of state resources by ANC comrades, was deafening.

The fact that he did not speak out is indicative of symptoms of moral deficit disorder wrapped-up in a reservoir of political expediency and opportunism.

In a perfect parliamentary system, a ruling political party chooses its leader within a framework requiring focus on the long-term good of the country. This means a leader vested with statesmanship as opposed to being just a politician. As a prerequisite to statesmanship the qualities of integrity, responsibility accountability, conscience and character are essential.

The enunciated qualities do not, however, matter in the ANC’s paradigm for replacing Zuma in 2019. The dynamic is simply a power struggle between competing factions.

Ramaphosa, the well-connected billionaire politician, does not need the trappings of the state to enrich himself.

He is beholden to his party for his wealth and refuses, in the name of party loyalty, to distance himself from Jacob Zuma and supports and defends Zuma.

Ramaphosa has been consumed by years of ANC relentless collectivism, supplemented by a generous helping of self-interest and political need.

His nomination will be nothing more than a historical footnote of a failed nomination that was.