RAY HARTLEY: Ramaphosa - Lessons from the Italian front in WW2
'It is the question – ‘How does he operate?’ – which is the most difficult to answer and, therefore, the most intruiging'
Everyone wants to know what South Africa’s new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is all about. What does he stand for? What are his politics? How does he operate? The first two questions are easily answered. To understand what Ramaphosa stands for, look no further than the constitution, which bears his imprint. As the ANC’s chief negotiator, he played a larger role than anyone else in its formulation. It is a document with a strong bill of rights protecting individual freedom. But it is also a social charter, setting all future governments on a course to address social injustice and to prevent the birth of new injustices. It creates a modern democratic state with a high degree of accountability. But it also directs the state to be compassionate and to place the marginalised, the poor and the discriminated against at the centre of its programmes. These are Ramaphosa’s foundation values. Nelson Mandela is his lodestar. In his state of the nation address, Ramaphosa spoke of “a new dawn that ...
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