ZUMA LEGACY
BEN TUROK: What Cyril Ramaphosa must do to make SA great and close inequality gap
I suppose many former office holders from the Jacob Zuma presidency are asking the same question. How did he do so much damage to our governance system without arousing serious resistance? I was an ANC MP during his first term and I was even the co-chair of the ethics committee for two years, yet we never once discussed his disastrous wrongdoing and manipulation. Why was that? I do not believe it was timidity; after all, we went all out on former communications minister Dina Pule and even got her to resign, so it was not for lack of courage. The explanation may lie in two factors. First, Zuma and the Guptas were remarkably clever at concealing their manoeuvres. We knew that people were being shunted around, but it all seemed to be within the bounds of what presidents do, and when the media raised issues, we felt that much of it was based on gossip. There was so little clear evidence of wrongdoing. Second, the ANC’s tradition of centralism meant Luthuli House was the fountain of all ...
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