In Soweto, where President Cyril Ramaphosa grew up, and where he visited last year promising better days, nothing has changed for Solomzi Dzanzbe.
Another Sunday goes by and he still doesn’t have a job.
Ramaphosa “told us he was going to fix the electricity but there is no change,” the 24-year-old said, before taking a big sip of beer.
When Ramaphosa visited Nomzamo Park in Soweto in 2021, he vowed to improve conditions in the difficult neighborhood on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
Visiting before the local elections, Ramaphosa saw the candles in houses that had been without electricity for three years. He saw the empty refrigerators and the children’s legs with cuts that wouldn’t heal from the dirty water.
He made many promises, but for some local people, they were just words.
“As always, the ANC people talk and do nothing,” Dzanzbe said.
He planned to spend the rest of the day drinking beer with other young men.
It is against this backdrop of broken promises and growing frustration with the ANC that Ramaphosa faces the worst scandal of his career, one that could yet bring him down.
Claims of more than half a million dollars hidden under sofa cushions in Ramaphosa’s home have fueled resentment in Soweto and elsewhere.
He is accused of concealing his theft of his hunting estate in 2020.
Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing, saying the cash was payment for buffaloes bought by a Sudanese businessman.
But an independent panel authorized by parliament said last month that he “could have committed” serious violations and misconduct.
“Why didn’t the money change?” Dzanzbe wanted to know. “And how did the money first get into the country?”
He could no longer vote for the ANC, he said.
Parliament will decide on Tuesday whether to hold a future vote on removing the president, which in South Africa means removal from office.
That parliamentary vote will be just days before the ANC begins its conference to choose a new party leader, which Ramaphosa hopes to win before the 2024 general election.
In Nomzamo Park, the ANC has always won, their vote sometimes exceeding 80%.
But in last year’s local government election, voters turned away from the party. The ANC only got 46% of the vote in the area, compared to 67% in previous local elections.
And the same picture has emerged at the national level. For the first time in its history, the ANC obtained less than 50% of the votes last year.
For 24-year-old Sucre Dlamini, the Phala Phala affair is further proof that the ANC “cannot survive”.
Ramaphosa “must go,” he said. Although there is an ongoing criminal investigation and the president has not been charged, Dlamini believes that “if there is smoke, there is fire.”
“It is clearly an abuse of power. I don’t have a house, I don’t have a car and I earn just enough to pay the bills. What did he do for us, Ramaphosa? — AFP
