Is the ANC playing Russian Roulette?

IOL News

24-04-2025

Given the current relationship between South Africa and the USA, the appointment of Mcebisi Jonas by President Ramaphosa is either deliberately provocative and reckless, or an indication that the president did not apply his mind to the matter, and was badly advised by his inner circle of cadre deployment specialists, says the writer.
Russian Roulette is a potentially deadly game of chance where participants take turns firing a revolver loaded with one bullet at their head, without knowing whether the chamber is loaded or not. The game is often associated with recklessness, danger, and unpredictability.
A serious question may be: Is the ANC playing Russian Roulette in its relations with the USA?
There are many examples, but the most recent is the appointment of Mr Mcebisi Jonas, the highly regarded former deputy minister of Finance. Jonas has an excellent reputation, and he would be a good choice in ordinary circumstances.
But given the current relationship between South Africa and the USA, his appointment by President Ramaphosa is either deliberately provocative and reckless, or an indication that the president did not apply his mind to the matter, and was badly advised by his inner circle of cadre deployment specialists.
Of course, Jonas should have used his brains and said that he was highly flattered but was not the right person for the task, given his chairmanship of MTN, which has a huge financial interest in Iran, the USA's enemy No. 1.
He might also have added that his recorded remarks at the Kathrada lecture in 2020 about Trump made him an impossible choice. Jonas described Trump as racist, homophobic, and narcissistic.
Trump is unlikely to forgive or forget such remarks, and the chances of a cosy White House chat between Trump (or even one of his juniors) and Jonas seem somewhat remote.
The loaded revolver metaphor goes on. Nomvula Mokonyane, ANC deputy secretary-general, expressed enthusiasm for the renaming of Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive.
Khaled is the notorious aeroplane hijacker and Palestinian Terrorist. Mokonyane did so after the Johannesburg Metro was quietly putting the renaming on the back burner. She wanted the name change so the US consulate, at 1 Sandton Drive, would have to undergo a complete rebranding of the consulate.
'We are sending a message that they cannot dominate us and tell us what to do. It must be in their face, it must be in their computers, in their letterheads.'
She hoped that in her lifetime, it would become Leila Khaled Drive. The sheer arrogant recklessness of this stupid person should have led to her firing, but somehow, she missed the bullet.
The loaded revolver game is also played by the ANC against itself. SA voters are turning against the ANC because the overwhelming need is for economic growth and jobs. The ANC continues with corruption, unpopular policies of race, giving advantages to the ANC-connected, expropriation, and the unaffordable aspects of NHI.
The latest madness is the publication of numerical race targets for every occupation, profession, whether in the private or public sector. Coloureds, or Indians, or Whites must not be 'over-represented.'
If Whites are 4% of the general population, then they can only occupy 4% of the jobs. Only race matters, not skills or where one is in the country. Instead of unleashing the economy, enabling it to grow, the ANC ridiculously creates more and more regulations that will hurt business, not grow it. Instead of paying some attention to its GNU partners, some of whom have experience of running successful businesses and have the policy recipe for prosperity and greatly increased opportunities for all our people, black and white, the ANC again plays Russian Roulette with our economy and future as a country.
When will they learn that Russian Roulette is dangerous, reckless, and unpredictable, and that at some stage the revolver does not just click?
Douglas Gibson is a former opposition chief whip and a former ambassador to Thailand.