By Alec Hogg
Have just finished Anthony Butler’s quite superb biography on Cyril Ramaphosa. Well researched, brilliantly contextualised and full of pleasant surprises, it showed me how fortunate South Africa is to have his presidential services. Especially right now, when a myriad of challenges would daunt even the most resilient optimist.
Butler and his biography are the focus of my latest Rational Perspective podcast which you can listen to by clicking here. Reflecting on those 413 pages and the author’s insights from our interview, I’m not surprised Ramaphosa keeps a veil over his private life.
South African politics is dirty. Fake news and whispering campaigns come with the territory. Butler’s book reminds us how over the years Ramaphosa has, inter alia, been accused of informing to the Apartheid police, being a CIA spy and, most recently, a serial adulterer.
So it should be no surprise to see him defamed again over the weekend – this time because “sources close to a major VBS shareholder” claims he turned a blind eye towards the VBS plunder. That’s a serious charge. One that basic journalism would need to include at least one named source. Shaking your head? Me too.
