Dlamini-Zuma might be a valuable ally to Ramaphosa

In South Africa, it is a sad truth that, once a politician has been branded as “bad” by a lynch mob of commentators or even those who hate the ANC, then logic and facts go out of the window.

And, in the current coronavirus crisis, the most demonised minister is the one who is perceived by many to be the source of all of our woes under the lockdown – whether that means the bans of booze and cigarettes or the fact we can only leave our homes under strict conditions.

So, Nkozazana Dlamini-Zuma is believed to be behind our suffering, because she, as minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, is responsible for issuing and implementing the stringent Covid-19 regulations.

When she announced that, under the eased level 4 restrictions, cigarettes would still not be permitted to be sold, there was an outcry from people who saw her as vetoing President Cyril Ramaphosa, who had said earlier that the ban would be lifted.

There were even those who went as far as suggesting she was doing the bidding of her former husband, Jacob Zuma, in making a powerplay against Ramaphosa.

Even when the president tried to correct those assumptions by pointing out that the ANC makes decisions on a “collective” basis, there were many who refused to believe him and characterised him as a hostage to the Zuma faction.

The problem with those sort of conclusions people have been jumping to is that they ignore the nuances of the ANC internal politics and erroneously divide Ramaphosa’s Cabinet into “good guys” and “bad guys”.

The reality may well be that Dlamini-Zuma is closer to Ramaphosa than she is to her former husband and she may, in fact, be a valuable ally in his fight against both the coronavirus and the faction loyal to Jacob Zuma.

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