A family meeting that became a divorce announcement

President Ramaphosa has just secured his recall by the ANC by December 2025 with this hapless ‘family meeting’ announcement. He failed to read the national room.

He made the country wait 7 days to hold a 10-minute national briefing, for which he is always late, on a matter of grave national concern. He has no understanding of, nor appreciation for, the South African mood or need. He has no appreciation for how tired we are of his failed 'family meetings' and his lateness and tardiness with the urgent business at hand. He has no energy for the mountain of work to be done to fix this country, a country we love, and which he finally broke, after promising us in 2018 that he would love it too and fix it.

His entire demeanour on Sunday night spoke of a President who hates his job. He was uninterested in what he had to say. He looked irritated. He spoke for about 10.5 minutes. He kept us waiting for 3 times longer than he spoke for. He has been in the Union Buildings for some 17 years now. He doesn't want to be there anymore. Why was he not in his office earlier to be ready to deliver his address on time? Why did we hear news channels announce to the public at about 7:15pm "The president has just arrived."

He is staring a recall in the face. And the saddest part of it all? He would welcome it.

Mbeki was recalled 9 months before his term ended when he interfered in judicial processes.

Zuma was recalled a year before his term ended when the Constitutional Court found he had violated the Constitution.

Cyril on Sunday begged the ANC to recall him.

The President will be recalled before year-end because he failed to lead the ANC to victory in April 2024. He is now certain, after Sunday night's middle finger showing to the citizens of South Africa, to the Police, to Parliament and to his own ANC, to cost the ANC the loss of even more votes in 2029. This is the end of the ANC as we knew it. The once great ANC is finally dead. It won't win an election ever again.

The last throes of life of what was once a great ANC movement were encapsulated in a tiny 10-minute address to say to the people, "Stop complaining, can't you see how tired I am? Here's a Commission - it's all we have left to give you - and it will take 3 months, maybe 6 months, or more, I don't know. Anyway, ok bye." And then he left the stage. And with him, the entire ANC left the stage tonight. They had nothing to say to South Africa.

The ANC lost a further 1 million votes tonight. I was going to write and say, 'Maybe they lost 100,000 votes tonight.' Reading the comments online across the platforms and listening to the news bulletins, the anger expressed by South Africans, coupled with a severe sadness, tells me the end has arrived. The voter has made up his mind.

But more dangerously, Ramaphosa has set South Africa up for a potential coup. He has a very angry security cluster whose police, intelligence and law enforcement structures are all implicated by the allegations made against them. All that infighting will now play itself out on the national stage and will put a firm halt to any serious investigation into any of the real issues. In the absence of stable political leadership, the judiciary will increasingly be called upon to stabilise the sinking ship. But there are limits to what the judiciary can do. It does not interfere with the affairs of the legislative and executive branches of government. It rules on the interactions between these actors and the body of laws. The President and his politicians lead the legislative and executive branches of government.

He has also pitted very powerful criminal syndicates and cartels against each other, all of whom are vying for their chosen captured political candidate to assume office so that their payday can begin. He has unleashed more political instability and deepened political opportunism in the wake of his weak and reckless leadership shown to South Africa on Sunday night.

This was not a family meeting; it was a divorce announcement. The President divorced his citizens on Sunday night. And then he walked out the door.

The ANC now needs a very competent President to replace Cyril Ramaphosa, who must have the skills, intelligence, love, backbone and energy to rebuild what was destroyed and lost under Cyril's presidency over the last 6 years. They don't have until 2029. And they don’t have until 2027.

The problem, however, is that the cupboard is bare.

Cape Argus