ActionSA - Ramaphosa’s Silence is Deafening

Opposition parties continue to call on President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign as the ANC NEC convenes an emergency meeting on Friday on the crisis that has enveloped the country after the Section 89 panel found prima facie evidence that he had violated the Constitution.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa arrives to visit the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, southwest London, on November 23, 2022 on the second day of his two-day state visit. - Ramaphosa urged rich nations to help save vulnerable ones from climate change, as he made the first state visit of King Charles III's reign. (Photo by Daniel LEAL / AFP)

Published Dec 2, 2022

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ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba on Friday said Ramaphosa’s silence in the wake of the Sec 89 panel report into Phala Phala has risen to become deafening.

On Thursday evening, Ramaphosa was due to hold a ‘family meeting’ but this was postponed with his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya saying the president was still consulting.

Regardless of the outcomes of the NEC meeting, opposition parties are forging ahead with plans to use parliamentary processes to remove the president from office.

Mashaba in a statement said any leader with any substance would have either resigned or addressed the nation to express their position on the report.

“This is essential for a country looking for clarity from its President and for an already struggling economy battling against the fluctuations in the Rand because of the uncertainty.

“Yesterday South Africans had to deal with the uncertainty of not knowing how their country, their lives and their businesses would be impacted by the news the prospects of yet another ANC President having to resign.

“The Rand lost 5% of its value against the dollar and our banks lost 10% of their stock price on the JSE yesterday alone.”

Mashaba said this affect on the markets had not been seen since former President Jacob Zuma fired Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister in December 2015.

“Ramaphosa is acting like an accused person exercising his rights not to incriminate himself, while simultaneously prioritising the internal considerations of the ANC and its NEC meeting. Nowhere in the President’s thinking does it seem to feature that South Africans and our economy have a need for clarity that supersedes his personal and political considerations,” said Mashaba.

He said many South Africans placed their hope in a Ramaphosa presidency and have been deeply disappointed by the president inaction in key areas and the exposure of the Phala Phala scandal.

“South Africa cannot be held hostage by a party where the choice is simply one between better devils.

“ActionSA repeats our call for President Ramaphosa to be decisive and do the honourable thing and resign his Presidency in order to spare South Africans of the humiliation of another President alleged to have broken our laws.”