Errol Horwitz: ‘Mr President, replace your tainted ministers!’

When Cyril Ramaphosa assumed the office as President of South Africa in February 2018, no one could have foreseen what he would have to face as the leader of our country. The initial praise Ramaphosa received for his decisive response to the Covid-19 crisis was soon overtaken by harsh criticism of one of the strictest lockdowns imposed anywhere in the world. Political activist Errol Horwitz addresses Ramaphosa in an open letter, asking him to separate himself from the ANC’s destructive collective mind-set that, he believes, is damaging the country. Horwitz says to Ramaphosa: “We cannot overlook your human frailties, but we can conditionally forgive, provided you seize the moment and step up to the plate!” – Nadya Swart

The President’s report card: A dismal failure thus far

By Errol Horwitz*

Dear Mr. President:

Had you known then what you know today, I assume you would have taken a pass on being elected president of the ANC during the party’s 54th national conference on December 18, 2017. I still recall you sitting on the podium in stunned silence on being elected president. At that very pregnant moment I imagined the ghost of King Henry IV stepping up and whispering in your ear “Heavy is the Head That Will Wear the Crown”.

King Henry did not have a jewelled crown in mind, but a crown-of-thorns, a painful burden akin to the wreath of thorns placed on Jesus’ head to mock Him before he was crucified (Matthew 27:29). The burden confronting you as the man in charge was the wholesale maladministration, corruption, theft of state resources, and those influential comrades in your party who continue to undermine you at every opportunity, believing to this day that you are not the true anointed one to lead the party and country.

Your detractors regard you as a usurper much the same way King Henry was regarded. He resigned under a cloud of doubt and uncertainty, characteristics of a weak leader. It seems it may be your legacy as well, or at best, the fulfilment of a one-time presidential ceremonial role.

In almost two years into your presidency there is little, if any, evidence of a paradigm shift in righting the ship of state. Even the pandemic Covid-19 sweeping the country does not excuse you from your failure to exercise your leadership. To put it bluntly, you have failed miserably by demonstrating a lack of political will and independence, characterised by perceived detachment from the problems facing the country.

I make no apologies for taking you to task in the hopeful expectation that you will metaphorically come down to earth, and separate yourself from the ANC’s destructive collective mind-set that is throttling the country’s political and economic lifeblood. You must know that despite your empty pleas, the ANC’s cesspool of corruption, culture of patronage, including the purging of ANC do-nothing brown envelope addicted apparatchiks, remains unabated.

Do I need to remind you of the three witnesses who recently testified before the Zondo Commission of Gigaba, Gama, Pita, Molefe and Singh visiting the Gupta compound in Saxonwold, and leaving with bags of cash. It adds new meaning to the word ‘bagmen’! If you fail to criminally prosecute these miscreants you will commit a grave travesty of justice, and the commission thereof will resurrect my past comments relevant then as they are today: “For years [you] refused to dust off [your] moral compass. [Your] blind loyalty to the ANC collective was absolute. [Your] silence following multiple incidents of corruption and looting of state resources by [your] ANC comrades is deafening. The fact that [you] did not speak out is indicative of symptoms of moral deficit disorder wrapped-up in a reservoir of political expediency and opportunism.”

You have now been presented with an opportunity to heal your deficit disorder by working within a framework focusing on the long-term good of the country – this means being a leader vested with statesmanship as opposed to being a political hack. This will not be easy to overcome because of the mix of a paradoxical tension between your intelligence and the exercise of judgment. Regrettably your intelligence does not always equate with good judgment. I suppose a common deficiency that infects your political comrades as well. However, more so in your case as you should know better. Need I remind you of your deafening silence in the wake of Nenegate by allowing political expedience to cloud your judgment, and more recently bending your knee to Dlamini-Zuma.

Mr. President, although your flaws are self-evident does not necessarily mean that you have been left on the side lines. You can start by breaking the chains of ANC collectivism by removing those do-nothing and tainted ministers in your cabinet and replacing them with men and women instilled with integrity. This could prove to be a difficult task akin to Abraham pleading with G-d to save Sodom from destruction if he could find righteous people in it. Without being overly dramatic the country is on a collision course similar to Lebanon – not the explosive consequences of tonnes of ammonium nitrate, but as an informed friend commented, the explosive consequences to the country of millions of unemployed youth.

The opportunity still exists for you to still grab the ANC’s bull by the horns and face the political and economic situation in the country with determination, fortitude and courage, guided by the principle of knowing the difference between right and wrong – a rare quality in your party. History is replete with political leaders who, despite their human frailties, rose to the challenge of good leadership.

However, as things currently stand the man-in-street looks at you with a jaundiced eye – cynical and negative. One cannot ignore your complicity and odious silence as a member of Zuma’s cabinet in the name of political opportunism. All things considered we are left with you – the best of a bad bunch. We cannot overlook your human frailties, but we can conditionally forgive, provided you seize the moment and step up to the plate!

  • Errol Horwitz was a political activist in the 60s, and returned to South Africa a few years ago, after residing abroad for more than three decades.
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