JUSTICE MALALA: Nice speech, now Ramaphosa needs to clean house
'The cabinet that Ramaphosa will announce over the next few days will be key to his success or failure'
South Africa’s new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, delivered an inspired and inspiring state of the nation speech on Friday. It was always going to be inspiring. First, Ramaphosa is an astute, talented and empathetic leader. Second, it is not very hard to seem a genius after the disastrous tenure of the shockingly ill-equipped and malevolent Jacob Zuma.Ramaphosa’s speech is therefore a success in lifting us all up and reminding us what it was we were trying to achieve in crafting the 1994 breakthrough, of which Ramaphosa was a key architect. It was a rallying cry for each and every South African to give of themselves and their talents to a new dawn and a new society. Many said they had tears in their eyes when Ramaphosa quoted the Hugh Masekela song that entreated all of us to say: “Thuma mina – send me.” We all probably had a little tear there. Ramaphosa and his team turned that speech around in a day. I am therefore forgiving of the many gaps in it. His silence on the burning Zuma obs...
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