{"id":90938,"date":"2025-10-03T12:58:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T12:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa"},"modified":"2025-10-03T14:42:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T14:42:57","slug":"why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa","title":{"rendered":"Why Ramaphosa Can\u2019t Save South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>President Cyril Ramaphosa has it the wrong way round in searching for consensus before making a decision, when positive change in South Africa has historically come from an individual taking action that may be unpopular.<\/p>\n

The search for consensus prevents decisive action from being taken to address South Africa\u2019s myriad crises, even when the solutions appear to be relatively simple.<\/p>\n

While Ramaphosa admits South Africa is facing a crisis, at least economically, he has been unwilling to take action to resolve the issues handicapping the local economy.<\/p>\n

This is feedback from political analyst Dr Frans Cronje, who explained to the second annual BizNews Investment Conference that South Africa appears to be undergoing a major transition in a similar fashion to 1994, albeit slightly different.<\/p>\n

As with the 1990s, a dominant political force is seeing its power over the country slip amid economic and financial crises.<\/p>\n

Outright collapse in the 1990s was averted by FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela taking decisive action, without waiting for widespread support or consensus to appear.<\/p>\n

This is something Ramaphosa has failed to do so far, despite South Africa finding itself at the tail-end of a decade of stagnant economic growth, facing a financial crisis, and increased international pressure.<\/p>\n

Cronje said the solutions are relatively simple to get South Africa out of its crisis, with Ramaphosa only having to do three things.<\/p>\n

This includes using South Africa\u2019s coal reserves to create an energy surplus, ending the taxation of capital on arrival, and concessioning off the country\u2019s ports and railways.<\/p>\n

However, this requires decisive leadership, with Cronje explaining that, in these situations, the President cannot afford to wait to build consensus.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo form a movement to do it is almost the wrong way around. It is more often the case that great political leaps are taken by individuals who pull things with them,\u201d Cronje said.<\/p>\n

Cronje pointed to De Klerk\u2019s momentous speech in February 1992, which released Mandela from prison among other things, and set South Africa on the path towards democracy.<\/p>\n

This speech was conducted with only four Cabinet members supporting De Klerk\u2019s stance on South Africa\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my understanding that FW, at the time of the transition, simply told his colleagues that this is what we will do and pulled them with him,\u201d Cronje said.<\/p>\n

Another example was Mandela\u2019s speech outlining the ANC\u2019s economic policy for South Africa once the party ascended to power.<\/p>\n

\u201cMandela\u2019s first economic policy speech after being released from prison was delivered before his party had its policy conference,\u201d Cronje said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needed to preempt the conference and dictate the policy because if the conference dictated the policy, then the ANC would have been in the position it now finds itself in thirty years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramaphosa has it the wrong way round<\/b><\/p>\n

Dr Frans Cronje<\/p>\n

Cronje explained that Ramaphosa\u2019s approach is the complete opposite of De Klerk\u2019s and Mandela\u2019s during South Africa\u2019s last great transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cRamaphosa\u2019s approach, the complete opposite, is to try to find consensus and unity to build some movement to move ahead,\u201d Cronje said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, the results speak for themselves. So, I think it is a matter of key individuals, they don\u2019t all have to be politicians, saying these are the things we are going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apart from Ramaphosa\u2019s consensus-driven leadership, the President is also held back by the ANC\u2019s structural inefficiencies and the looming elective conference in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ANC has a structural immunity against reform. It has immunised itself to reform through its extensive structural processes,\u201d Cronje said.<\/p>\n

He said that even if some senior leaders of the ANC agree about what to do and see what needs to be done to save South Africa, it cannot get the support of the party behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s board, the National Executive Committee, has about 100 members drawn from every possible perspective of life you can imagine, from the ideological to the criminal to the just not very good,\u201d Cronje explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chairman of the board, that is what Mr Ramaphosa is, is a sort of non-executive chairman and he sees his role as facilitating a discussion between the hundred and no decision must be taken until there is complete agreement about what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

If that means there needs to be another meeting, then the discussion will continue at a later date until consensus is reached.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ran anything, any company along those lines, you would be in trouble. You have a weak chairman and a board with conflicting objectives, let alone 100 people on it, and your competitors are taking big bites out of you \u2013 you will never turn the thing around,\u201d Cronje said.<\/p>\n

This prevents the ANC, which is still the dominant political force in South Africa, from taking decisive action regarding the country\u2019s crises and its future.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, it limits the scope of what President Ramaphosa is able to say or do when leading the country, with a constant search for consensus, preventing decisive leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the ANC immunised itself to reform through its structures, exacerbated by the manner of its leader,\u201d Cronje said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, while it can agree with you and hate what is happening, it can see the consequences, and it knows it is the biggest loser, so it cannot act.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, it is not a question of not knowing and not understanding or not fearing the effects, but that there is a structural impasse and they cannot get past that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa has it the wrong way round in searching for consensus before making a decision, when positive change in South Africa has historically come from an individual taking action that may be unpopular. The search for consensus prevents decisive action from being taken to address South Africa\u2019s myriad crises, even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":90937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-90938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Ramaphosa Can\u2019t Save South Africa - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Cyril Ramaphosa has it the wrong way round in searching for consensus before making a decision, when positive ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Ramaphosa Can\u2019t Save South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Cyril Ramaphosa has it the wrong way round in searching for consensus before making a decision, when positive ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-03T12:58:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-03T14:42:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/10\/sm_1759489892.964904.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Why Ramaphosa Can\u2019t Save South Africa\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-03T12:58:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-03T14:42:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa\"},\"wordCount\":940,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/10\/sm_1759489892.964904.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/why-ramaphosa-cant-save-south-africa\",\"name\":\"Why Ramaphosa Can\u2019t Save South Africa - 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