ANC stalwart Mavuso Msimang says former president Nelson Mandela would not be proud of current SA President Cyril Ramaphosa’s performance in the past five years since taking over the affairs of the county.
The veteran confirmed reports suggesting that Mandela wanted Ramaphosa to succeed him, but was prevented from doing so by the ANC collective.
Msimang was speaking during an interview on “Newzroom Afrika” on Tuesday as part of commemorating the 10 years since Mandela’s passing.
“Yes, that is who he thought should be the deputy president and eventually, his successor ... He sat with his co-leaders and looked at the respective strengths and experiences of the potential contestants. They advised that Thabo Mbeki should be given the nod, and Mandela being a supreme democrat, accepted that decision,” he said.
Asked if he would be proud of the achievements of Ramaphosa’s presidency, Msimang said he would not.
“No, I do not think that Madiba would be tremendously proud of the state in which the country finds itself in.
“The Zuma era brought state capture into this country, and it was thought that with his passing from office, things would change.
“There is no doubt that in his time, he did a lot to destroy institutions that were required to create a different South Africa that is devoid of all the things that we associate with state capture.
“I think he would have been very happy to see that his choice in president instituted the Zondo Commission when he came into office to deal with the real problem and morass that existed in the country that the Zondo and other commissions did a lot of good work to point out in a scientific way to explain their respective roles in state capture,” he said.
Msimang cited failure by Ramaphosa to implement the recommendations of the Zondo Commission as the biggest problem, adding that this has been dismal.
“The real disappointment is that since the commission was set up, the results have been dismal ... overall the score is really really bad.
“That is why people are losing confidence in the leadership of the government and the ANC because there is a perception that there has been people cited by the commission to answer to the NPA or go for further investigation. The real problem people see is that those people who are tainted have not stepped aside and for the ANC to keep those people within its Cabinet and NEC is the most representation of failure in the leadership,” he said.
In a statement on Wednesday, Presidential spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya denied that the president has not acted on the recommendations of the Zondo state capture report, saying the president’s office has published a detailed report on the progress being made.
“The Presidency has published a detailed report on the implementation of the actions contained in the response by President Cyril Ramaphosa to the recommendations of the Judicial Commission Inquiry Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud.
“The report provides details on each of the 60 actions in the president’s response plan as well as cases that are now in court as a result of the investigation of the commission’s recommendations,” Magwenya said.
Magwenya said there will always be views on the president’s performance while still in office.
“At no point did he (Mavuso Msimang) say that Madiba would not be proud of the manner in which the president has managed his first term of office.
“Please go back to the clip and listen carefully ... The president came into office and inherited SOEs and other state institutions that were already in decline, and in most cases crippled with poor leadership ... Just as the decline has not been overnight, so will the turnaround,” Magwenya added.
The Star
siyabonga,[email protected]