GARETH VAN ONSELEN: Ramaphosa the exorcist
Cyril Ramaphosa says just enough to pretend he is in the ANC exorcism business, but is in all likelihood signing a deal with the Devil
"I’m telling you that thing upstairs isn’t my daughter. Now I want you to tell me that you know for a fact that there’s nothing wrong with my daughter except her mind." (Chris MacNeil, The Exorcist, 1973) Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma should win the December ANC elective conference because she best embodies the contemporary spirit of the party. Whether or not she is the best candidate for South Africa is an entirely irrelevant discussion, simply because that has never been the ANC’s concern. The ANC, as it exists today, is an organisation dead to the people. It is a monument to self-interest, racial nationalism and antiquated economics and, on that front, Dlamini-Zuma is the perfect leader. That might sound flippant but on closer inspection it is a more profound observation. Organisations, as they exist on paper (and what is on paper so far as the ANC is concerned is hardly encouraging) are in truth held hostage, first and foremost, to the prevalent internal culture and ethos.The spirit th...
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