“I cannot compete with Zuma.” This comment, attributed to Cyril Ramaphosa in December 2007, seemed to signal the end of a presidential dream for the man they call “Mr Constitution.”
It was a few days before the ANC’s 52nd elective conference in Polokwane. At the time, Zwelinzima Vavi said any moves to stand in Zuma’s way of becoming president would be like “trying to stop the big wave of a tsunami” inexorably sweeping to victory.
Although Zuma’s popularity and imminent ascent to the ANC presidency appeared a fait accompli at the time, there were still many within the ANC who were disappointed by Ramaphosa’s refusal to enter the race.
Calls for Ramaphosa to contest Zuma and Thabo Mbeki were amplified by the fact that Nelson Mandela had expressed a desire for Ramaphosa to be his successor.
To some, Ramaphosa appeared to approach his political destiny with dread, but Ramaphosa is a calculating strategist who was not prepared to muddy himself in the ANC’s factional politics. He moved into the world of business but remained a loyal ANC member, serving on its national executive committee (NEC).
The next time Ramaphosa made headline news was in August 2012 with the carnage in Marikana. The man who had founded the once all-powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) found himself enmeshed in a massacre that had all the hallmarks of apartheid-era police brutality. It was a stain that seemed set to fatally taint his political ambitions. That December though, he was elected deputy president of the ANC, paving the way for him to play active role in ANC politics.
Cyril Ramaphosa embraces opponent Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma during the 54th national conference of the ANC. Picture: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
This week, 20 years after that fateful loss to Mbeki, the prodigal son returned and ascended the summit to lead the party. Moments before his name was announced, he appeared tense, although walking towards the podium he managed a broad smile as he was hugged and wished well by senior party members.
Moved to tears when his victory was announced, for a moment, he appeared almost forlorn, lost in deep thought. It was a rare chink in the usually tough as steel Ramaphosa armour.
Ramaphosa’s tears sparked a flurry of speculation. Could it have been because his choice for the deputy president, Lindiwe Sisulu did not make it to the top six? Or worse, because the all-important, strategic secretary general position was snatched away from his preferred Senzo Mchunu, the astute former KwaZulu-Natal premier? The people who triumphed over Sisulu and Mchunu were David Mabuza and Ace Magashule, the Mpumalanga and Free State premiers, respectively, who are both inextricably linked to President Jacob Zuma and through him to state capture?
At stages during the proceedings, Ramaphosa seemed exasperated by the intermittent chants of “A-a-ace-e-e-e” (Magashule) reverberating through the conference hall. Magashule, of course, is a quintessential populist in the mould of Msholozi himself with all the attendant trappings of personality, power and patronage.
“I feel very sorry for him (Ramaphosa), he is surrounded by sharks,” was one message on Twitter. Many others were sympathetic towards him.
“He has every right to cry. They kept him in the queue for too long despite his suitability for the top job.”
“Here comes John Magufuli of RSA,” read another tweet, in a reference to the Tanzanian president whose corruption-free reputation has cost him friends.
The composition of the top six, and the rest of the 80-member national executive committee that is split down the middle between Ramaphosa’s supporters and Zuma’s backers hints at the tumultuous years that lie ahead.
Cyril Ramaphosa chats with Lindiwe Zulu and Nocawe Mafu before the announcement of the new ANC president.Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/ANA
Zuma and some of his cabinet ministers might yet live to regret the day they plucked Ramaphosa from relative political obscurity and roped him into their slate in the lead- up to the 2012 Mangaung elective conference as a counter strategy to erstwhile deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe’s decision to go up against Zuma.
One of Ramaphosa’s suitors at Polokwane was Derek Hanekom, today one of the voices of reason and principle in the embattled movement.
“We need leaders of comrade Cyril’s calibre. I know Cyril is very good at business, but I really wish he would put all his money in a trust and step up for a higher and more senior position,” said Hanekom at the time.
But Ramaphosa knew the truth of Vavi’s quip; that it wasn’t the time to staunch the tsunami but to swim with the tide, and when the Zuma-ites came knocking on his door offering the prospect of becoming deputy president, he relented and took it, setting aside his business interests in trust.
He knew he only had to be patient to become president of the country when Zuma’s term ended. It’s been tough, being the number two in government at a time when Zuma effectively stands accused of ramping up the state capture project into an industrial scale kleptocracy.
To some it seemed that Ramaphosa was complicit in the abysmal looting and he faced tough questions in parliament.
Indeed, Ramaphosa made rooting out state capture and corruption a central plank in his election campaign. Now he has to go after the corrupt in government, including two of those who are now in his party’s top six, one of whom was instrumental in his narrow margin of victory.
He’s not letting up on his promise, as he said in the early hours of Thursday morning when he presented his first address to the party faithful to close the 54th conference.
“At the state level we must confront the reality that critical institutions of our state have been targeted by individuals and families through the exercise of influence and the manipulations of governance processes and public resources.”
This was an unequivocal reference to the Guptas, the notorious family who have not just been Zuma’s friends but have employed many members of his family.
Many people, including cabinet ministers and the state owned entity executives who frequent the Saxonwold shebeen may be getting the jitters, not just about their career prospects but also their personal liberty - as is Zuma himself.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa with Zweli Mkhize, who declined his nomination for the number two position. Picture Ayanda Ndamane/African New agency/ANA
Ramaphosa is aware that to probe corruption in the state while neglecting the revelations of corruption in the private sector, might raise concerns of double standards.
“Given all these challenges, we are called upon to act against corruption, collusion and other economic crimes prevalent in the public and private sector,” he said on Thursday morning.
“We must investigate without fear or favour the so-called ‘accounting irregularities’ that cause turmoil in the markets and wipe billions off the investments of ordinary South Africans.”
State capture, though, is at the top of his agenda. He knows the market expects it, the broader public demands it: “Whether we call this state capture or simply corruption, this has undermined the integrity of our institutions, cost our economy hundreds of billions of rands and contributed to the further impoverishment of our people,” he said.
Ramaphosa sits now as deputy president of the country, with the political power to make it happen. There’s also a court injunction for him to appoint a national director of public prosecution, next month after the Pretoria High Court found that Zuma’s appointment of Shaun Abrahams was invalid and that Zuma was too conflicted to appoint his replacement.
His crusade will be bolstered when a judge is appointed to preside over the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture, according to a ruling by the same court.
Ramaphosa has an 86 member NEC and his real power as the president of the party will come from here. At the moment, declared allegiances are split 50:50. A lesser leader might be regarded as hamstrung, thwarted before he takes action, but Ramaphosa is the man who played an influential role in crafting our constitution, bringing rabid left wingers and angry right wingers into one room to forge a constitution that today, almost 24 years into our democracy, stands as a shining beacon and an ever-present protection.
If he can do that, there’s no doubt that he’s the right man to get us back on track two decades later.