GARETH VAN ONSELEN: The South African dreamland
If you do not have to speak the truth, it doesn’t matter what you say, and Cyril Ramaphosa has been given the all clear on that front
“He had not been dreaming; he was sure of that. Rather, it was as if he had been living a second life and now he was returning to his old existence as might a man recovering from amnesia. Though he was still dazed, one clear conviction came into his mind. He must never again sleep in Comarre.” Arthur C Clarke, The Lion of Comarre, 1968 President Cyril Ramaphosa is like water: you can’t really hold him in your hand. He has no particular shape. Try to squeeze him and he escapes between the fingers; try to describe him and he changes form. He is, like Jacob Zuma in his early days, all things to all people. His actual character and political disposition has been moulded more around the idea of him than the actual content of his character. And it is an idea imbued with so much hope and faith it is almost romantic in the belief that, just below the platitudes, there lies something profound, waiting to blossom and brighten the political landscape. There are many tests of a political leader...
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