Siyabonga Sithole
As the country battles with rising fuel prices, Stage 6 load shedding and “Farmgate”, calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to step aside, and let the legal processes take their course, continue to grow.
Speaking to Power FM Power Talk host Lerato Mbele, ANC Struggle veteran Dr Mavuso Msimang reiterated the calls made by opposition parties, for Ramaphosa to stand aside and let the legal processes clear him, before he continues his tenure.
“As a head of state he has an extraneous burden, which makes it extremely difficult to focus on what needs to be done in resolving these issues, as he still has these swords hanging over his head.
“I really think it would have been good for the leadership of the party to ask him to just move to the side until his problem is resolved and, in his stead, allow somebody else to run the party and, if the party still has majority in Parliament, run government,” Msimang said.
He added that the fact that the ANC has not sat down with Ramaphosa, and that he is yet to appear before the integrity committee, spoke of the current crisis of the ANC not being able to hold itself and its leaders accountable.
“That they can’t do that is a reflection of the current crisis. We have many people who are in trepidation as to what would happen if he stepped down, and who would come in is another crisis, but that can't be a consideration that justifies lack of action,” he added.
When asked about the ANC's cadre deployment policy, the senior ANC stalwart said the policy should be scrapped, as it had been badly handled by the ANC-led government.
“The cadre deployment policy is so discriminatory and has been so badly handled because if you and have the same qualifications and experience, I would be prioritised because I am a member of the ANC and you are not. It should be scrapped because it has been badly handled,” he said.
The senior member of the ANC said the issues of corruption since democracy cannot be compared to the those that happened before the advent of democracy in the country, adding that even though corruption has not ended with the current administration, there were positives from the ANC that should be recognised.
“There were very good times, when the ANC was performing to the point that allowed it to run the negotiations as the first democratically elected governing party.
“That is because there was a lot of belief in the capabilities of the people who were in charge. As this continued, the challenges of running a government, and access to power and the resources associated with power, just defeated the organisation as a whole,” the former executive director at SanParks said.