MK party’s political stunt is old and tiresome

In what world would the MK party’s motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa pass? A world where they had a majority, but that is not this world.

MK party shouldn’t be questioning leadership

There was once such a world, well, kind of. The guy leading the MK party was once the leader of the country. Incidentally, a lot of the things his current party is accusing the current national president of are things that he himself was accused of in his day.

And sure, a lot can be said about Ramaphosa’s leadership “failures” as will no doubt be raised in the motion when it comes, but spare a thought for where they’re coming from. What leadership has the MK party provided?

Being critical of a chaotic budgetary process but putting the JSC through the whole John Hlophe incident is probably a symptom of political dementia.

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I could be wrong but walking into the White House to address issues directly is not exactly “total absence of leadership when the country needs it most” as the MK party would have us believe. Especially considering that they’re a pretty big trading partner. Fun story about Zuma that he won’t tell you, though: the dude was knighted as a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath back in 2010.

MK spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela rarely mentions that. Much like he will rarely mention where the country’s high unemployment came from when he’s being critical of it. It’s not like Ramaphosa is the first ever president of the ANC and, in fact, his national power as president is hardly close to that of Zuma’s, who had a significantly higher parliamentary bloc.

Zuma did little to fix the country

You can hardly believe the resolve to fix the country of people who were once in the arena and did little to fix the country, but are now crying from the sidelines.

If there is a legitimate reason for a motion of no confidence, fine, let’s have it. But a political stunt that the DA exhausted years ago? What do they expect to happen? The GNU to fall apart?

Who would they put in Ramaphosa’s place? They know as well as anybody that a motion of no confidence won’t go far at this point, even with all of the president’s failings. But I guess they need to pretend like they’ve done something significant.

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Waste of parliament’s time

The country is going through some real problems — some that can be addressed by legislative intervention. But the removal of the president by a party led by those who had power and did little good with it is not exactly the best use of parliamentary time.

We’re still waiting on some dagga regulation, fixing our understanding of copyright, balancing labour rights, and so much more. How is a presidential recall by a party that doesn’t have the numbers for a recall going to do any good for the country?

Zuma’s party claims Ramaphosa has abandoned the poor and the working class. How did that fire pool work out for the working class? How about inheriting a currency that was R8 to the dollar and leaving it 33% weaker on exit? You know what else was great for the working class? That arms deal, the Guptas, and all the lovely load shedding.

I get it. Ramaphosa is not your flavour, but before you try to tell me that he should go, maybe have a look at the guy leading you and tell me why you think he did a better job. Because from where I’m sitting, the MK party’s criticisms of Ramaphosa could have been copied and pasted on their man 10 years ago.

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