An open letter to the President Cyril Ramaphosa: A call for accountability

IOL News

08-07-2025

A letter writer has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to put the interests of the country before that of his political party.
Image: Jairus Mmutle / GCIS
Sir,
At the outset, let me state that your presidency, spanning now into a third term albeit the second term being a partial one, has been an utter and bitter disappointment.
A smiling and amiable personality is no criterion for supreme leadership, especially in a country like South Africa, after decades of degeneration, corruption, and pure thuggery.
You are fortunate in that you can scream privilege, only because of political association, connections, and indeed under-the-table dealings that have yielded much for you personally.
When you failed in securing yourself the nomination for the presidency post the Mandela presidency, you hibernated in a sabbatical from the political arena but were well ensconced in the business sector.
This gave you opportunities that ordinary South Africans may have been denied only because of your profile as chief negotiator during Codesa; the business sector saw you as an opportunity for the furtherance of their economic objectives in the future.
You obviously had ample opportunity to entrench your privilege and prepare a launch pad for your re-entry into mainstream politics.
I do not begrudge you for your ambitions.
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
-:-
Loaded :
0%
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Advertisement
Next
Stay
Close ✕
Ad loading
However, the time has come when we call a spade a spade.
What exactly have you done as head of state to correct the burgeoning corruption and jobbery in our failing bureaucracy?
The unacceptable levels of criminality, both against the innocent citizens of this country and the state coffers, go on unabated.
KZN Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has revealed flagitious, damning, and disturbing facts that should be your responsibility to attend to in the immediacy, all things considered.
The fragile GNU which you head will not pass muster post the next General Election.
This GNU, if we are to be honest, is tempered with compromise and expediency - for the sake of stability, we are thankful - but the reality of a volatile political climate dictates otherwise.
A figure of approximately R700 million has been budgeted for what has been criticized as a "vanity project" for the appointment of so-called eminent persons to address the National Dialogue.
R700 million - really?
My critique has an undercurrent of dissatisfaction that does not portend well - but it is a critique that, from a ripple effect, is turning into a tidal wave, and in your zest to protect your image and that of your party, you are selling South Africa out.
What has the debacle and farce that your visit to the White House yielded?
In my books - nothing.
The essence of my correspondence is that you need to urgently reflect on your ability to handle, control, and execute effective leadership that will make a real difference to all citizens - the notion that we have "previously disadvantaged" citizens is real, but the small elite who are rising to become the cream of the crop were often the very ones who were previously disadvantaged.
Yet their meteoric rise in economic grandeur was precipitated largely, not everyone but the chosen ones, by thuggery and corruption.
Where are the two mega cities that you once touted to be developed in a SONA address?
The questions abound. The hubris of your authority - as you try and assuage pertinent matters without any bullish action - darkens the looming horizon even further.
You may not qualify for another term as president, but your declining tale and legacy is surely becoming a sight for sore eyes, and you don't need advisors to assist in your decision-making - the ordinary citizen is best equipped to do that.
It is high time you put the interests of the country before that of your political party - that's what a good and effective president does.
Finally, be a president worthy of emulation - this country deserves more - much, much more.