Douglas Gibson, veteran combatant of the internecine wars that felled the once mighty, now long vanished, United Party, offered a pithy put-down on the equivocating and irresolute leadership style of its long-serving chief, Sir De Villiers Graaff. “When in doubt, Div would appoint a committee,” he recalls.

Cyril Ramaphosa claimed in his state of the nation (Sona) speech last week that icon Nelson Mandela was his presidential muse.  Judging from his latest offering and the characteristic inaction, irresolution and procrastination that preceded it — amid an economic and energy catastrophe — he is channelling his inner Graaff...

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