Is there a decision President Cyril Ramaphosa wants to make without delay? Why is the government so much of delay, procrastination and indecision when it is expected to act?
On the other hand, the controversial Jacob Zuma has at least made a decision, good or bad. He sacked Pravin Gordhan, who was finance minister, before recalling him from an overseas trip and replacing him with Des van Rooyen overnight.
He made sure that those who were not wanted in the Cabinet did not stay for a day. Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande can testify to being the only minister to be sacked while others were moved in one of Zuma’s overnight Cabinet reshuffles. It was a bad decision, but at least “Msholozi” acted and showed his intentions.
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Why is Ramaphosa so quiet?
After the state of the nation address and the budget speech, there are no more excuses. He is a person who over-consults and has done exactly this time.
He consulted with the ANC and at the weekend its tripartite alliance partners, the South African Trade Union Congress and the South African Communist Party.
It will not be a surprise if Ramaphosa is late as he has to ask whether to sack Ministers Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Lindiwe Sisulu.
One thing we know is that Ramaphosa does not want to offend anyone, while he does not mind being harassed. Then they shouldn’t be involved in politics because being a political leader is about making unpopular decisions.
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This Cabinet reshuffle is not just about Sisulu and Dlamini-Zuma but identifying other ministers who are bad apples. If Ramaphosa is serious about clean governance, he will take action against politicians accused by former Eskom boss André de Ruyter of corruption.
As one businessman once said, De Ruyter is the scapegoat of a rotten environment.
While minister Ramaphosa, several other people and bodies aligned with the ruling party went out of their way to publicly disparage De Ruyter, it is no secret that this is all about defending wrongdoing in the electricity utility.
If De Ruyter reported to Gordhan about MPs involved in the Eskom cartel, what did the minister of public enterprises do? This raised suspicions as the CEO went after criminals who sabotaged and stole from Eskom, but senior politicians criticized him for doing so.
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Shouldn’t De Ruyter have taken action against the criminality going on at Eskom? De Ruyter is the first CEO in Eskom to have decided to blow the whistle instead of letting ANC politicians turn the parastatal into a feeding trough. All other CEOs allow it and also eat it, so their name is now discredited.
There were signals when De Ruyter was poisoned after announcing his resignation last year. This is said for all that some big fish behind it. The criticism that continues to be unleashed on him is part of an effort to silence and intimidate him into revealing more dirt about corruption at Eskom.
Corruption at Eskom extends beyond De Ruyter’s short tenure. The offense is to try to stop the feeding frenzy. The ANC politicians we are talking about may be bold enough to confront the CEO to open the gates for continued feeding. He refused.
We know that commissions of inquiry into Eskom matters can be very expensive for taxpayers, as shown by the cost of the Commission of Inquiry into State Arrest. But at least the demand that an ad hoc parliamentary committee be set up to investigate the matter should be entertained.
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