Tag: President Cyril Ramaphosa

With the state of the nation having taken place earlier this month, I find myself rolling my eyes continuously. The ridiculousness of it all is hard to believe. I can’t believe our country has come to this.

Since 1994, South Africa has had five presidents who have varied greatly in style and character, despite all belonging to the same political party. How do they compare? How did they handle the crises they faced? What impact did they have on the country?

After three years of public hearings and with a price tag of over a billion Rand, Justice R.M.M. Zondo, the Acting Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, handed the third part of a three-part report on state capture and corruption during the presidency of Jacob Zuma, to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

President Ramaphosa delivered the Nation Address on Thursday evening from the Cape Town City Hall, as the country struggles with an ailing economy, civil unrest, corona virus, state capture and a promise-weary public.

After three years of public hearings and with a price tag of over a billion Rand, Justice R.M.M. Zondo, the Acting Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, handed the second part of a three-part report on state capture and corruption during the presidency of Jacob Zuma, to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

After three years of public hearings and with a price tag of over a billion Rand, Justice R.M.M. Zondo, the Acting Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, handed the first part of a three-part report on state capture and corruption during the presidency of Jacob Zuma, to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

During the years of President Jacob Zuma’s leadership, the country experienced many great governance challenges which played out in the courts and the public domain. The Public Protector at the time  - Ms. Thuli Madonsela - appeared to be winning the battle against corruption, notwithstanding the great odds that she was facing.

When the minister of finance delivered Budget 2020/21 on 26 February 2020, COVID-19 was mostly contained to China (with other countries registering few cases). The budget therefore made virtually no provision for what was to become one of the largest health and economic meltdowns in the past 90 years. As such, except for the growing fiscal deficit, the main and consolidated budgets[1] contained no earth-shattering announcements.

Whereas there might be many faces to Jacob Zuma, most of them can be condensed into two primary themes. He is either the villain, ominous and threatening and openly defiant of the law, the NEC and of the wishes of the country; or he is the victim: wide eyed, picked on and singled out for very little reason.

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently told the World Economic Forum he intended to break up Eskom’s monopoly over energy. Eskom’s reputation, around the world is one of corruption and mismanagement, so something must be done.