This country does need to talk but it doesn’t need a half-baked process.
One has to think President Cyril Ramaphosa was born into the wrong epoch.
Clearly, he would have been better off in Roman times when, with his air of quiet boredom, he could have given Emperor Nero a run for his money in playing a nice tune while flames engulfed all around him.
Of course, legend has it that Nero was fiddling… and while Ramaphosa has not been caught doing that, many of his comrades in the ANC have for years been fiddling while playing the rest of us for suckers.
That’s part of the reason the country is being engulfed by crime and collapse.
True to the Nero inspiration, Ramaphosa has been pursuing the idea of a National Dialogue which, when it was first proposed by civil society groups some time ago, seemed like a good idea.
The DA said it wouldn’t back it because it would simply turn into an ANC electioneering platform.
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Now, though, some of the major backers of the dialogue – including the Thabo Mbeki and FW de Klerk Foundations – are pulling out because they believe the president is trying to steamroller the process, not allowing them enough time to prepare for Friday’s grand get-together.
One does have to wonder about the seemingly indecent haste to get this project off the ground, especially given Ramaphosa’s track record of lethargy in decision-making, never mind that the ANC is never in a hurry for anything except the drinks table at a government reception…
Ramaphosa says he is determined that the dialogue will go ahead, Thabo Mbeki be damned. We don’t think this is the right attitude, especially considering Mbeki has the elder statesman’s gravitas which could hold the whole circus together.
This country does need to talk, but it doesn’t need a half-baked process.
Please, Mr President, delay this for just a little while.
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