The new head of state, Cyril Ramaphosa, is a difficult man to understand. He is something for everyone, and in the long run he will not be able to get away with it.
The former parliamentarian, Dr. Pieter Mulder, said at a meeting of the Study Group for Contemporary History where spoke on the subject: Who is Ramaphosa?
Of the issues out of the Zuma camp against Ramaphosa included the fact that he first became a member of the ANC in 1991 and is thus not a so called ‘struggle veteran’ who was not in a foreign country or in prison.
He grew up in Soweto where his father was in the police in the 1970s.
According to Dr. Mulder the question is if Ramaphosa, who is a capitalist, really follows capitalism or whether he is the old trade unionist who is following socialism? “Is he a loyal cader of the ANC, or is there perhaps something about his Christian background still there? Nobody will know and time will tell, “said Dr. Mulder.
There are a few tests for Ramaphosa, such as the restructuring of the cabinet, his handling of corruption and state capture, the economy and the land issue.
Ramaphosa’s test also lies with the Afrikaner. He is friends with Roelf Meyer, and there is a danger of seeing the Afrikaner as the Roelf Meyers. Dr. Mulder spoke to Ramaphosa about the Afrikaner, but Ramaphosa is extremely afraid of the whole issue of ethnicity. Even during the Codesa negotiations, he did not want to talk about the Afrikaner as it could cause the pot of ethnicity to boil over. Ramaphosa’s priority is certainly not the Afrikaner. He may later want to reach out to the Afrikaner if he can benefit.
“For the Afrikaner, Ramaphosa’s election is a setback because he wants to return to Plan A, the so called rainbow nation. He has a much more modern approach than Zuma, is a good communicator, has human knowledge and is a strategically dangerous thinker, “said Dr. Mulder.
“A clever man can be a bigger problem than a stupid man, and he will be deceiving and deceiving our people for a while.” `
Read the original article in Afrikaans on Die Vryburger
South Africa Today – South Africa News
