WeeklySA_AdminThis week has seen President Cyril Ramaphosa and his security cluster ministers proffering differing assessments over last week’s wanton lootings and massive destruction of properties in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, fuelling speculation that there were serious issues of mistrust and disloyalty within the cabinet.
Relying on information gathered from his security ministers, Ramaphosa, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the cluster, declared these actions a revolt against the State and promised to crack down on those behind the orchestrated plan to bring the country to its economic knees. The police were blamed for dragging their feet to deal with the situation amid reports that only few of them were sent to quell the riots – and failed. Members of the SANDF were subsequently sent to maintain law and order in the troubled provinces. No sooner had the President made this pronouncement – that this was a failed insurrection – than the floodgates of conflicting statements opened and the blame game started. First, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula publicly rejected the President’s view, saying this was just a counter-revolution in the form of criminality and thuggery.
Following strong criticism that the Intelligence networks were caught napping by the conflagration, Intelligence Minister Ayanda Dlodlo came out guns blazing, saying information regarding the pending attacks was submitted to the law enforcement agencies. This was denied by Police Minister Bheki Cele, who stressed that such information never reached his office. The spat has left South Africans alarmed, damaging public confidence in the Government’s capacity to uphold the rule of law. Cabinet ministers cannot ignore protocol, throw their dirty linen in the public and even openly contradict their Commander who also happens to be the President of this country. Issues publicly raised by these ministers ought to have been raised, discussed and resolved behind closed doors.
South Africa is a respected and trusted economic powerhouse on the continent and, thus, should not be seen to waver on critical domestic issues affecting its own security. Already the damage to property is estimated at almost R20 billion in KwaZulu-Natal only. Thousands of workers stand to lose jobs, buildings have been extensively damaged and ATMs looted and burnt. This is no time for the blame game and fidgeting, which is unfortunate and untimely. This is the time to restore confidence in the future of this country and make sure there is no repeat of what happened last week. What we need now is cogency, unity in action and closing of the ranks behind the President and his cabinet.
ANC pivoting on heels of factionalism
It is common knowledge that the enduring great divide between the poor and rich in this country is a conundrum that punctuates its daily reality, a blight that contributes to its ranking as one of the most unequal societies in the world.
Notably, this reality loomed large during last week’s protests against the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma, and underscored the narrative advanced for the mayhem unexpectedly visited upon this country. No doubt unresolved socio-economic issues remain the undeniable elephant in the room whenever the national ills of this country are raised or create a spectre of national instability. And, no amount of filibustering can erase that reality, as well as the lingering threat posed by the ANC’s apparent incapacity to redress the historical imbalances of our past. True, poverty remains a critical caveat to the stability of our democracy, a descriptor that ironically is tantamount to the crown that sits uneasily on the head of a divided nation, and which is choked by stark inequalities as well as the ramifications of an equally divided ruling party.
Inevitably, the greatest threat to South Africa’s instability remains the ANC’s inability to resolve its internecine internal strife, which essentially pivots on Zuma’s legal predicaments, and continues to fester like a malignant wound. it is no doubt the party’s ills that set the scenario for last week’s conflagration and set it on a dangerous path.
