ANALYSIS
Hello, China: In the run-up to 2024, Ramaphosa & Co come out swinging, challenging our basic constitutional rights
The injunction by President Cyril Ramaphosa that South Africans must be more like the Chinese — ‘never badmouth your country’ — and his claim that public criticism of his government is severely ‘lopsided’ may be revealing as to his state of mind/understanding of the current political flows. It suggests that he has no concept of how difficult the lives of people are. Only someone who lives in the warm, expensive embrace of the VIP Protection Unit could make such an ignorant claim.
On Tuesday, BusinessLIVE reported that over the weekend, President Cyril Ramaphosa had compared the public criticism his government receives here to the situation in China.
He told a community meeting in Durban:
“In China, nearly everyone is a messenger — every Chinese is a messenger for their country, they never badmouth their own country. Never badmouth your country.”
He also said that:
“Here, some people have made it a sport to badmouth the country, to say all sorts of negative things, and we say we need to be patriotic and acknowledge that we have challenges and problems. But at the same time [we] say that our love for this country is much more important than the negativity, so therefore we must be positive about SA. That is the only way this country can move forward.”
There is much to consider in this.
Politically, it may be a sign of the unhappiness he may feel with the criticism of his government. Literally every hour of the day people publicly express their frustration with his Cabinet’s performance, and the ANC.
The failures of the ANC are regularly discussed on talk radio and social media. At the same time, the huge frustrations many people feel about the ANC, and the disappointment they feel with him personally, are no longer hidden, even by his erstwhile followers who feel betrayed by the ANC, and by Ramaphosa personally.
There is no denying that his programme of “renewal” has proven to be a failure.
There is also a personal element to this. Ramaphosa himself failed to act against people who have Zondo Commission findings against them. What’s more, he has chosen to include some of them in his executive.
He obviously may find the personal nature of some of the criticism levelled against him to be quite frustrating.
But Ramaphosa must be aware that comparing our situation to China will invite strong criticism.
We are a democracy. He has a more than passing acquaintance with the document which enshrines the right to freedom of expression. To compare that to China, where there is no freedom of speech, and mounting evidence that one person, President Xi Jinping, controls the society, is to ask for trouble.
Some people will claim Ramaphosa sure sounds as though he would prefer to lead a country that is not a democracy.
One of his key promises has been that his term was a break with the corruption that occurred during the “nine wasted years” (his term) of former president Jacob Zuma.
How striking it is then that these China-loving comments are so close to something Zuma once said, when he was president. In 2017, just weeks before the ANC conference that saw Ramaphosa running against Zuma’s preferred candidate, Zuma said:
“Attacking South Africa and bad-mouthing the country when [it] is most vulnerable is irresponsible, especially if done by South Africans themselves”.
However, perhaps the most problematic part of Ramaphosa’s comments is that they suggest he does not understand how life has changed for the worse for many people.
Crime has jumped dramatically, leading many to live lives of daily fear. The construction mafia is so brazen that its representatives will even walk into the mayoral complex in Cape Town and literally demand hundreds of millions of rands worth of contracts.
Transnet currently cannot process the cargo of ships currently waiting at the outer anchorage of Pier 2 in Durban Harbour. This is after the leadership of Transnet, appointed during the Ramaphosa administration, had to resign because they had failed.
And, of course, Eskom had to implement Stage 6 load shedding, again. On top of it, Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s claim of pending improvements was revealed by Eskom to be a lie. Awkward…
Eskom contradicts Ramokgopa – forecasts more crippling blackouts over the coming months
Youth unemployment is now so bad that many have legitimate fears of the social unrest it could create.
In the Eastern Cape, children are literally starving to death.
It is likely that many voters will believe the person who leads the government that presides over such a disaster should be a fair target for criticism.
However, Ramaphosa’s comments are not being made in a vacuum. And there is some evidence that he and other ANC leaders are seeking to provoke certain fights as political issues for next year’s elections.
Ramaphosa’s comments come after Presidency Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni claimed that the private sector was trying to “engineer the collapse” of the government.
This was after the deal struck between the Competition Commission and British-based bank Standard Chartered that saw the bank paying a fine of R42-million for its role in the manipulation of the rand.
Ntshavheni’s comments drew this response from Business Leadership SA CEO Busisiwe Mavuso:
“The government does not need the business sector’s help to run the country into the ground. They do it very well on their own, due to their own clumsiness, incompetence and the system of cadre deployment.”
Instead of backing down, Ntshavheni claimed that some of the criticism of her comments was based on the “male chauvinism that bedevils the media”.
At the same time, it appears the government’s relationship with organised business is also being strained by the ANC’s insistence on making no changes to the NHI Bill.
The Bill was adopted by the Health Committee of the National Council of Provinces last week with no changes. Even proposals from the national Health Department were ignored.
This is likely to lead to court action, as business groups and others say that the Bill in its current form will destroy the health system if it is implemented.
It may be that ahead of next year’s elections, the ANC is looking for some useful enemies.
This has happened in the past. In 2016, while leading an ANC election campaign, Zuma said he “did not understand” black people who voted for the DA.
It was a fairly transparent attempt to racialise the elections. But the power of that kind of campaigning may no longer be so effective.
Instead, the ANC may be looking for a proxy for race, and claiming to stand up for poor people against big business may be very helpful.
That would be despite the fact the current ANC government is giving more power to the private sector than any government before it.
Of course, Ramaphosa may have just made these comments in passing; he may say that in fact he meant very little by them.
But this may be a sign, an important sign, that he and other leaders in his government simply do not understand what is happening on the ground.
And have no idea how tough life is for most of our people. DM
Ah, yes, maybe we should have seen it coming, with his increasing cosiness with the Chinese leaders. Our president clearly inhabits a very divergent universe to that in which most of us find ourselves. Does he believe for a second that the lack of critique from Chinese citizens is a result of their undying admiration for their leadership and deep patriotism towards their country? Or could it perhaps arise out of a slight fear of what might happen to them if they do dare raise their voices? As for how we feel about SA; my own take is simple, and one I readily share: This is an extraordinarily beautiful place with landscapes and biodiversity to die for. It has an absolutely amazing mix of wonderful people from many rich and diverse cultures. In terms of art and culture SA punches way above its weight in all areas, from music to fine art to theatre, to literature, to street art; everything. It has world-class skills across all demographies in all disciplines; medicine, science, agriculture, astro-physics, nanotechnology, education; you name it. In other words it is over-endowed with a richness of natural and human resources that have the potential to lead the world in many fields. But, the fly in the ointment, the reason why we are at the wrong end of so many global measures such as crime, education, employment, poverty? Appalling, dysfunctional, incompetent and corrupt governance, at all levels in all spheres arising from the ANC’s systemic failure and betrayal of the people.
Just to add, on the plus side: A (mostly) independent judiciary – cf China, Russia and the US; an extraordinarily free and independent press (with a couple of obvious exceptions) – cf China and Russia (among others), and; a vibrant civil society – cf……. On the negative side: A cabinet I wouldn’t trust to wash the bakkie!
I agree with you 100%. I would also add that there are amazing and beautiful souls in South Africa across all cultures who, when left to their own devices, share this gorgeous country with love and harmony. It’s only the rotten fish in “government” who destroy this harmony. I often see much laughter when people of different backgrounds get together and share their stories and their jokes. Ordinary South Africans have a wonderful nature of resilience – this cuts across many boundaries. This confirms my view that we must build and nurture strong communities and make this government irrelevant.
Well said! I wish we had a better way of uniting to voice and mobilize our dissent rather than via numerous bickering political parties. And waiting for next year to do it. We need a united mass action movement to make this government aware that the people of this country will not tolerate being treated like placid ignorant fools. Government arrogance and corruption continues unabated. The mantle of the Demi god sits comfortably on their shoulders as they ignore the destruction they leave in their wake.
Spot on! How much does a new bakkie tyre cost, by the way? You’d need to replace all four after the ANC has laundered your car! At least you’d have a selection of bricks that it’s standing on to sell back to the contractor who’s supposedly building low cost housing.
Could not be said better.
Well said. It beggars belief that this idiot and his party cannot see that the criticism is well justified, based on their total incompetence. What a bunch of clowns with Cyril as the ringmaster.
Ramaphosa has joined the ranks of Fikile Mbalula who is always praising the ANC and himself for a wonderful job done on Twitter. Wonder if he ever reads the responses to his fantasies?
You are assuming there is some rationality left in their judgement. The desperation to cling to power totally clouds (justifies) their misguided decisions.
Agree 100%
Well said and to the point Lawrence. I’ll vote for you to be president!
Lawrence, you write some epic words… my only question relating to the point you make about South Africans and their skills… so why wait?
Hear hear, brother.
It seems Mr Ramaphosa believes ANC equals South Africa. The majority of citizens believe SA is a wonderful country with tremendous potential and we voice this often. “We live in paradise” is a phrase often used where I live. The frustration is with the Government/ANC and I don’t understand why it is unpatriotic to feel that things could be done especially when things don’t seem to be getting better.
Useless Ramaposer and useless ANC musy go live in China, we are a democracy over, not a dictatorship he so wishes for.
I think the entire ANC think that they equal SA. That’s how deluded they are.
100%
There is nothing the ANC/EFF leaders and cadres says or does that is not calculated. Calculated actions for the corrupt party. It will get meaner and uglier the nearer we get to elections. Expect to hear colonialism and apartheid a lot
“Capital punishment is a legal penalty in China. It is commonly applied for murder and drug trafficking, and is a legal penalty for other offenses. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting.”
“China is the world’s most active death penalty country; according to Amnesty International, China executes more people than the rest of the world combined each year.”
Maybe the Chinese don’t do any badmouthing of themselves for this reason.
There are consequences in China, we are shooting up the ranks the wrong way with crime and what do you expect. Nine wasted years of Zuma and almost six wasted years of Ramaphosa.
The ANC should remember that orrupt politicians are also executed in China.
Hmmm, this is the most interesting fact!!! Thanks for the reminder 🙂
Corrupt officials keep forcing China to raise the bar for death penalties as it ‘scrapes poison off the bone’
Lai Xiaomin’s execution last year for taking more than US$260 million in bribes seems to have set a new minimum for triggering capital punishment
China mostly condemns murderers and rapists to die. But the Communist Party has a long history of handing down death sentences to corrupt officials
Ha ha! In South Africa this could mean the population could decline something like 20% in one day. Seriously though, I cannot understand why everybody seems to be amazed by the erratic bahaviour or “our” cadres, our president included. Like every mafia, they have only one aim: to protect the organisation and themselves. To achieve that they will act rationally, irrationally, play stupid, pretend intelligence, whatever it takes. They will even extol the virtues of our constitution and democracy on one hand and of the most evil regimes on the other. Everything is the means to protect their criminal ends.
We should remind ourselves that Ramaphosa is an oligarch with communist leanings. He is no democrat. To him, we are nothing but frogs in almost boiling water. Things are going to get nastier the closer we get to the elections and the clearer it becomes that the ANC is going to lose.
The ANC must state what they have done to improve the Country, what they haven’t stolen, they have broken
Its simple old chap…they have stolen what they have not broken.
Vote ABANC…anybody but the ANC!
You see this idiot el Presidente Ramaphoria thinks that the very justifiable criticism of things in this country ….no need to repeat the list ad nauseum, is a criticism of South Africa. No, it is a criticism of the cANCer which brought about the decline and fall of SA Inc. Now if the vast majority of citizens in South Africa could see their way to voting ABANC (anybody but the ANC) we would be getting somewhere. Will that happen? God forbit its not allowed to happen….
Some years ago Ramaphosa congratulated the Chinese dictator, Xi Jinping, on his re-election as President and “the faith shown in him by the Chinese people”. That in a nutshell showed Ramaphosa’s total inability to understand the most basic tenets of democracy. The Chinese people never had any say whatsoever in the “election” of Xi – they have no way of showing whether they have any faith in in him at all. If any Chinese person was to stand up and tell Xi to get out, they’d soon be up against a wall …
The moment you think this moron can’t slip any further, he carries on digging his own hole.
This useless and spineless “president “is nothing but a huge fraudster with no morals, common decency and devoid of any honesty and integrity. Show us what you and your vile party have done that is good for SA and in its best interests, besides enriching the elite, buddies and the connected cadres. You have broken/destroyed just about everything you lay your rapacious and inept hands on as the state of our SOEs show as 1 example, stolen the country blind, divided it along racial lines and taken us on a path to a failed and bankrupt state. Your foreign policy is so hypocritical, treacherous and disgusting – you worship the most bestial and murderous tyrants with so much blood on their hands like the evil Putin monster, the diabolical Iranian, Zimbabwean, Venezuelan regimes etc. We are patriotic and love this country but not on your terms! You have betrayed and failed SA and just about all its people. The only salvation is to get rid of you and your hideous party/government. As Carsten so aptly mentioned – you are an “oligarch with communist leanings”(gifted your wealth like the despicable Russian model), which history has proven equals miserable failure and poverty. Only you and your ilk can’t see or won’t see it.
Who was chairperson of the commision who wrote the constitution for a multi party system?
What are you still doing in this country, go to the USA perhaps Trump will win again. Or perhaps Britain Boris Johnson might make a return or what about Israel, I’m sure Netanyahu would welcome you with open arms
Ramaposeur not only seeks to curtail free expression by his feeble attempt at guilting his critics into silence. He’s also being monumentally disingenuous by deliberately construing criticism of his government as criticism of the country. The two are distinctly different things.
The more this mendacious, unreconstructed windbag huffs hot air, the less plausible and the more of a disappointment he becomes.
Watching him hold up the Web Ellis Cup like he had had one atom of input into the Bokke made me nauseous
I think the insanity of power has really finished him off – The Emperor has had no clothes since Covid – now he seems to have lost his mind completely
I was in Beijing, in Tiananmen Square in 2016, gazing at the enormity of it (and the metal barriers in place to prevent another mass gathering from ever taking place) , when my guide asked in whispered tones whether it was true. “What?” I asked, and she replied “the video of here. 1989.” I was stunned at the obvious fear in her voice at asking about it and the Orwellian ability of the Chinese regime to have – almost – completely wiped it from the history of the country. Is that what you want, President with New Clothes?
And perhaps, instead of trying to bully South Africans into fake ‘patriotism’ (the final refuge of the scoundrel), you should deliver some basic bloody services to ordinary South Africans, instead of increasing your Blue Light budget every year. When the chapter of this era our nation is written, history will judge Ramaphosa as both the biggest disappointment we’ve had, as well as the the most useless idiot to have occupied that office. Unless a lunatic with a red beret and champagne tastes assumes the mantle, God forbid.
Positivity comes when there is Hope & unfortunately that has been stolen from us like so many other things. Our children are told to study & apply themselves so they have hope of a bright future. However, if we don’t have electricity & our transport system is in tatters; when you have companies which are closing – when you are not growing the economy – there will be no jobs for our children & no foundation for Hope.
That’s the other thing – Hope is also premised on Trust & the ANC has squandered that also. You would want us to Trust that the very same people, with the very same ideas that have gotten us into this mess are miraculously going to turn our fortunes around. That is not only an unrealistic expectation of us , it’s asking that we ignore our lived reality & replace it with Blind Faith.
That is an unrealistic expectation when you & the Team that run SA Inc fail consistently at all of the basics all of the time but continue to insist you have a good story to tell
Ramaphosa is a victim of his own incompetence
Precisely, he us not as intelligent as he thinks.
Been a cheeky pub/tavern chat (over a few beers) between me & my buddies that the ANC is gonna ZANU-PF(ify) SA if it loses the election. Don’t quite know where they will drag the brickthrowers from (there’s plenty who do so against their ANC-led municipalities, so they are trained in social unrest, just a matter of appropriate brainwashing), but they’ll find them – think Zuma protests…
Mmmm…certainly food for thought.
We have a President who is part of the midwives of the constitution of South Africa but what is shocking is his ignorance of the very same constitution he supposedly co-authored. His call for its amendment represented a crowning moment that in the current President we have nothing more than a political jay walker. What one had assumed is that the fellow would be well versed on constitution making processes and the Constitutional Convention in the US in 1787. He would be very much knowledgeable about the debates by the founding father of the US Constitution like Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson, Franklin and others, who are quoted by Constitutional scholars all over the world. One thought that he would be very much well versed on the archetypes of the Constitution from the procedural to the prescriptive constitution and would have clarity on the functions of the Constitution. One thought he would be quoted regularly as the founding father of the Constitution but we see Vali Moosa and Mac Maharaj at the forefront of explaining the Constitution and Thabo Mbeki has been at the forefront of its defence. Cyril never takes responsibility. We have to tell him that the Constitution was to distinguish the country from despotism and to give citizens rights if he does not know or forgotten. The right to criticise the failures of his government is not bad mouthing it is in the Constitution and the despotism of China is not what the country chose where leaders are voted by the party.
Until you pay back the money you looted from the poorest of the poor you are irrelevant
I would not be asking you for stolen property that you have and be rudely demanding it from you. I have never looted anything like you who is a looter of the highest order.
We have a President who is part of the midwives of the constitution of South Africa but what is shocking is his ignorance of the very same constitution he supposedly co-authored. His call for its amendment represented a crowning moment that in the current President we have nothing more than a political jay walker. What one had assumed is that the fellow would be well versed on constitution making processes and the Constitutional Convention in the US in 1787. He would be very much knowledgeable about the debates by the founding father of the US Constitution like Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson, Franklin and others, who are quoted by Constitutional scholars all over the world. One thought that he would be very much well versed on the archetypes of the Constitution from the procedural to the prescriptive constitution and would have clarity on the functions of the Constitution. One thought he would be quoted regularly as the founding father of the Constitution but we see Vali Moosa and Mac Maharaj at the forefront of explaining the Constitution and Thabo Mbeki has been at the forefront of its defence. Cyril never takes responsibility. We have to tell him that the Constitution was to distinguish the country from despotism and to give citizens rights if he does not know or forgotten. The right to criticise the failures of his government is not bad mouthing it is in the Constitution and the despotism of China is not what the country chose where leaders are voted by the party.
Well said.
We don’t bad mouth our country — It is one of the best countries in the world – What we do bad mouth is our thieving, incompetent and dishonourable government. So rotten and useless to the core that it beggars belief.
I believe this is a repeat of a tactic the ANC has used in the past; make up some nonsense issue to excite the commentariat, so diverting proper scrutiny away from more serious matters, in this case NHI. If Frogboiler really believes this nonsense he should resign. Red China is a country ruled by fear of a State that is completely unaccountable to the population. I daresay this fits in with the sentiments of Ramaphosa and his ilk who view loyalty as the ultimate virtue and criticism as enemy action- rather like the Nats, really.
WOW President – Take the sunglasses of and smell the roses – Gee wiss – the ANC is 1 BIG Failure – We are not blind, we are facing the consequences of your bad decision making every day of our lives – and YES we have all the right to critiside, because the ANC proved over and over again that they are NOT FIT to run a country..
Do you think that the President of the governing party reads and acts on these very real and telling comments made by the intellectuals of a very disgruntled populace? Do you think the general SA population reads and acts on these comments? Somehow, I doubt if both questions would be answered in the affirmative?
I know we all think much the same of the governing party but what are we positively doing about this? Apart from complaining to each other and agreeing with each other.
Let’s request DM to print a special “Daily Maverick Polls Edition” magazine – a selected collection of recent comments in Daily Maverick translated into the the most commony spoken Black Languages: isiZulu, IsiXhosa and seSotho. If there are pro-Other parties comments we must also collect and also print these. to be fair to all concerned. And this is to be distributed widely, where it may make a difference. This article and comments could be our starting point
This is going to cost alot of money and we cannot expect DM to foot this Cost alone We are going to have act quickly to get this in place place at the correct time. Obviously we must approach all DM readers, like-minded political parties and other wealthy contacts asap.
Is this possible at this late stage? Will DM agree? Will we get the sponsorship we require?
Many questions, which need answers: To save our beloved Country…
Let’s go for the most important Outer Space shot yet… …
Shame, after reading the pretty unified comments to Stephen’s excellent article: does anyone really expect the president to say: “OK, I know that I’m a clueless simpleton who couldn’t care less about the country and its people, and even if I did, I have been diagnosed to have a chronic paralisis. So what are you gonna do about it?”.
The comments here say it all. We love South Africa but do not love a vile and rapacious ruling party that is sending us to hell. You, Ramaphosa, and your inept and incompetent ministers. Your crooked cadres. The faux liberation heroes that started our downward journey literally from day one. I am sure that in your heart of hearts, if indeed your party has one, you greatly prefer the company of your BRICS buddies and seclong to emulate their control of the press and the individual. It will not happen, fortunately.
I lived in China for more than a decade. My work was mostly in university/adult education and corporate training. I have many, many Chinese friends, including several low- to mid-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. I have even given a speech on South African trade and investment risks and opportunities at one city’s CCP political school. In short, I know China and Chinese people well. Cyril is talking out of his bottom orifice.
China has absolute control over all media content and all channels. They are masters at propaganda. As a result, you get what are called “little pinks”, ultranationalist keyboard warriors who tolerate no dissent. But here’s the thing… most well-educated Chinese do a facepalm and mock the little pinks in private. They are well-aware that the narrative is 100% controlled by the CCP, but they can also use their own brains and eyes. They complain and crtiticise. They do this a lot. But they only do it with close family and trusted friends.
They don’t dare do it in public because they know very well that the CCP will crush them if they do.
Cyril, if you try to import that here, old as I am, I will fight you. And I have no doubt a majority of freedom-loving South Africans will stand with me.
A timely reminder that the government is not the same thing as the country, thanks Cyril.
Ramaphosa, if you stop lying about the RSA, we will stop telling the truth about the ANC and specifically YOU.
What
The nail hit right on the head again.
I don’t think Ramapara can see properly or hear.
Please someone buy him, A Decent pair of specs and hearing aid, and might as well throw in a pair of balls!
Don’t the Chinese shoot corrupt officials? 🙄