President Cyril Ramaphosa appeared to miss a golden opportunity to campaign for the party while wearing his ANC tie on Monday evening.

Presenting his closing remarks to the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) lekgotla, he revealed no new ideas, nothing to give disillusioned voters hope that things will change.

That said, there were some hints to keep hopes alive, around issues like a basic income grant (BIG), and proper structural reform, particularly for smaller firms. And within that was a fascinating nod to Eskom’s plans to grow renewable power sources, in a way which may infuriate the man who was chairing the lekgotla, Mineral and Energy Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe.

It is easy to forget just how much has changed in South Africa in a few short years.

During the Zuma era it was almost impossible to get verifiable information about what was said during an NEC meeting. Now it has become routine for Ramaphosa’s closing address to be taken live by TV news channels.

There are important reasons for this. When Ramaphosa first started doing it, it was perhaps an attempt to strengthen his position within the ANC. He was making sure everyone knew that the ANC NEC had adopted the “step-aside” resolution. He was making it harder for anyone to wiggle out of the decision, as Ace Magashule tried to do after he was finally suspended as secretary-general.

Now, Ramaphosa may find that these moments are important campaigning ones for the ANC. They are, in effect, free campaigning time, especially when he is dressed in a smart suit, wearing an ANC tie, behind a desk with a South African flag on one side and an ANC flag on the other.

These moments could soon become weaponised for external political purposes – but they are not without their drawbacks.

During his presentation on Monday evening, Ramaphosa, speaking for the movement, mentioned the anger and frustration at rising crime levels. 

“Efforts to strengthen the capacity of law-enforcement agencies and security services continue,” he said. “Citizens need to be confident that both the police service and state intelligence agencies have the necessary capacity and resources to protect the country.”

But this appears to overlook the fact that he, and he alone, has the legal power to institute a process that could lead to the removal of the National Police Commissioner, Khehla Sitole. And that Police Minister Bheki Cele, whom he appointed, has asked him to start that process amid obvious signs of problems within the police.

Here, Ramaphosa faces running the risk of being compared to Jacob Zuma, who once promised that “we will fill all vacant posts at the upper echelons of the criminal justice system”, while deliberately keeping both the Special Investigating Unit and the National Prosecuting Authority without permanent heads for a long time.

The pandemic has seen renewed calls for a BIG, which would see everyone in the country getting some money from the government.

This has been contentious, and the relatively new Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, has said he opposes such a grant. Some in the ANC, obviously, would want such a popular move.

Ramaphosa said, “Subject to long-term affordability, serious consideration should be given to extending further support to the unemployed, and those who are structurally marginalised, possibly in the form of an extension of the Covid-19 SRD grant, targeted food-poverty-line support or a basic income grant. We should also consider a combination of all this with mass employment for people.

 “We are taking steps to reduce the regulatory burden on small, medium and micro-enterprises. This includes ensuring that informal traders are not subject to undue and unfair regulatory requirements.”

This suggests that one is perhaps tied to the other. That perhaps the left wing will get a BIG while business will get fewer regulations on smaller firms.

Perhaps.

But it is also clear that the ANC has not yet decided on a BIG, despite all of the pressure being brought to bear on it. And if an election campaign is not the time to announce that the government will give money to everyone, then when is?

While Ramaphosa may well want to have fewer regulations on smaller firms, it will be difficult to force this through the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, where Ebrahim Patel has not shown much excitement about reducing regulations.

Perhaps the most surprising part of the president’s presentation was his comments about Eskom.

The last few weeks have seen Eskom and its CEO, André de Ruyter, spelling out a blueprint for how South Africa could move away from coal-fired electricity production. The aim is to spend around R106-billion on renewable energy over 15 years. This is important now because there is relatively cheap finance available for green power production which could help Eskom pay back its debt.

Ramaphosa appeared to be approving of this plan when he said, “The just energy transition proposed by Eskom presents a possible immediate opportunity to reduce our CO2 footprint; increase our energy security by ramping up renewable generation; take advantage of concessional financing for power station repurposing and explore ways to develop new jobs, industries and economic inclusion. 

“The lekgotla welcomes the detailed planning Eskom has done for a just energy transition at one power station, ensuring that workers and community well-being is assured and advanced in this process.”

But this appears to fly in the face of Mantashe, who has said that there is still space for new coal power production, and has been seen as punting a new nuclear deal.

This means that the ANC, and Ramaphosa, are supporting the CEO of Eskom against the energy minister and chairperson of the ANC.

It is surely significant, and could well be a slap in the face for Mantashe.

At the start of this lekgotla, Ramaphosa himself said that “there is a palpable sense of anger” towards the government and the ANC. The party that he leads has run out of money and cannot pay its own staff. Cosatu has said the “levels of incompetence are staggering” with regard to the ANC candidates’ registration issue.

All of this shows how different this election campaign is going to be from previous ones.

But for the ANC there is no visible campaign yet. No posters, no virtual campaigning, no rallies, no door-to-door visits. Instead, the party is on the back foot. From the evidence presented in public during this lekgotla it has very few ideas on how to change that. DM

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