South Africa: Battling A Legacy

SOUTH AFRICA

Battling a Legacy

On the first anniversary of his presidency this month, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa is struggling with legacy issues.

Ramaphosa sparked controversy last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when he referred to his predecessor Jacob Zuma’s tenure in office as “nine lost years.” As numerous scandals tarred his corrupt administration, Zuma was forced toresign last year with more than a year left in his term.

The South African press has been abuzz with debates over whether Ramaphosa was correct or mistaken about Zuma’s record and whether he should have panned a former head of state before an international audience.

Many reports, like this one in news24, also noted that Ramaphosa ironically was serving in government when Zuma resigned.

Revving up the commotion, Zuma issued a public statement refuting his former deputy’s assessment. “Could we have done more? Yes. Could it have been better? Yes,” the ex-president wrote,according to the Independent Online. “Was it a wasted decade? No.”

In his recent State of the Nation address, Ramaphosa indirectly addressed the storm he had caused, saying South Africa has suffered through a period of uncertainty that was now coming to an end.

“We must use this time to reflect on the progress we have made, the challenges we have encountered, the setbacks we have suffered and also the mistakes we have committed,” he said, reported the Citizen, a South African newspaper.

The public is still very supportive of the president, with polls showing he is more popular than his troubled party, the ANC, reported the Washington Times.

Some observers were less generous.

After “Zumageddon,” a period of “Ramaphoria” took over, political analyst Susan Booysen wrote in the Maverick, a South African news magazine. But Ramaphosa has enjoyed mixed success in tackling corruption, reinventing government and growing the economy, she argued.

Booysen admitted that Ramaphosa faces monumental challenges, however.

Take Eskom, the government-owned utility that provides South Africa with more than 90 percent of its electricity. As Bloombergexplained, the country has been suffering from rolling blackouts imposed to save the national grid. The problem is likely to persist for years because, as energy analyst Rod Crompton noted in the Conversation, Eskom is loaded with debt that stems from arguably poor management decisions.

Ramaphosa wants foreign investment to help. He’s planning to break up Eskom into three entities, a plan greeted with optimism at the Mail & Guardian, a South African newspaper.

But labor unions, including those at Eskom, are threatening strikes because the government is allegedly not working hard enough to lower the unemployment rate of 27 percent – not an environment that attracts cash.

It seems Ramaphosa can only move forward when the past becomes the past.