PETER BRUCE: Ramaphosa is winning the corruption war, but losing the policy battle
'The fact is, there's progress. Slowly but surely, forensic reports are beginning to pile up'
EXTRACT
While Ramaphosa makes progress closing down the state capture thieves, he is in more trouble by the day in policy and the economy. The land debate is pretty much already out of control. Gwede Mantashe, of all people, is now giving detailed briefings on how big your farm should be - 12,000ha, he says, is quite enough and if you have more the rest should be expropriated without compensation. Not only does he ignore the fact that 12,000ha in Mpumalanga is probably a lot more productive than 12,000ha in the Northern Cape, but the markets are watching his antics and, in the total silence on the matter from the president, marking our economy accordingly.
Ramaphosa has to start communicating better. Thabo Mbeki used to write a weekly newsletter which was well read and eagerly anticipated. There's no reason Ramaphosa can't do the same. If he has a plan, or just a vague outline of a plan, he should talk about it constantly. The land debate on its own could do us enormous damage before even one hectare is expropriated.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is beginning to make real headway in lining up for prosecution the runners and handmaidens who stole from the state for the Zuptas. Reports I have seen into mismanagement and corruption at Transnet are beyond shocking, but all recommend tough disciplinary action or criminal charges. The criminal charges are for people who have left the transport monopoly. Disciplinaries for those that remain. Because Eskom looms larger in our lives than Transnet, we forget that the Guptas first perfected theft at Transnet. That's why Brian Molefe and Anoj Singh were there as CEO and CFO in the first place. It's where Salim Essa first rears his head. Only once that was done would Molefe and Singh move on to loot Eskom.I have read two of three reports on Transnet. Molefe and Singh are in the most dire trouble. Of course, we are impatient. Ramaphosa announced, quite reasonably, a commission of inquiry the other day into state attorneys colluding to lose cases. But the cries on...
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