President Ramaphosa is unlikely to take advice from me. Pity. My advice would be a great deal preferable to the legal advice he has been getting about the Phala Phala matter.
Even if he doesn't like my advice, he should listen to that of former president Kgalema Motlanthe, generally recognised as one of the few people in the top echelons of the ANC with a reputation for integrity and good judgement.
One of the reasons for Motlanthe's excellent reputation is that there were no scandals during his brief 9-month presidency, and the fact that he had the courage and integrity to stand against the already grossly-tainted Jacob Zuma, who was seeking a second term as president.
Zuma obtained the support of Ramaphosa, who should have known better, and he was rewarded by Zuma, becoming Zuma's deputy president. If this is ever needed, here is the proof that Ramaphosa has a highly flexible attachment to the country, to the ANC and to the fight against corruption. His priority is his own career. All the rest is secondary, at best.
Some people talk admiringly of his ability to “play the long game.” In this context, all that means is one closes one’s eyes to breaches of the law, of the Constitution, of honesty, of integrity, of Zuma’s crimes, all in pursuit of the ultimate prize: the presidency of South Africa.
The tragedy seems to me to be that attaining the presidency appears to be the end of it. There is no great idea about saving our country or serving and uplifting our millions of citizens, or living up to the lofty promises of the Constitution; inertia and inaction have been the overriding hallmarks of the Ramaphosa period in office.
Having got there, even accompanied by all the detritus of former Zuma cabinets – some reasonably acceptable but most of them either tainted or else old warhorses who should have been pensioned off a decade or two ago- is all that mattered. Some of the people Ramaphosa keeps close to him are openly contemptuous and disloyal to the person who appointed them. He does not seem to mind.
The Phala Phala scandal, with allegations about millions of dollars being stuffed into the president's couch and then stolen from him, without ever being reported to the SAPS is inexplicable. There are also severe question marks about the importation of foreign currency, about clandestine communication to the Namibia police, and about whether the tax authorities were cheated, among a plethora of other allegations.
To all of this, Ramaphosa has remained steadfastly quiet and refused to explain. Not to the country and apparently not even to his close associates in his party.
The latter failure has got the goat of Motlanthe, who like most people in the ANC is inclined to confuse the ANC with the State. He is highly disapproving of the fact that not even the NEC of the ANC has been enlightened.
I do not care much for the ANC; but I have a deep loyalty to South Africa, its Constitution that I helped to write, to Parliament and to the reputation of our president. If these are undermined by action or inaction by President Ramaphosa - or anyone else - that person becomes an enemy of our country's future.
Kgalema Motlanthe has called on President Ramaphosa to come clean. If he is not guilty, he should take the nation into his confidence. On the other hand, if he is guilty, my advice to him is to resign for the good of South Africa. Don't become known as another Jacob Zuma staging a Stalingrad defence.
Douglas Gibson is a former opposition chief whip and a former ambassador to Thailand. His website is douglasgibsonsouthafrica.com.
This article first appeared in The Star newspaper.
