Ramaphosa ‘keeping his enemies closer’

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. That’s what political analysts believe is the reason behind President Cyril Ramaphosa’s deployment of two political adversaries, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Bathabile Dlamini, in his office.

Analysts said it was a balancing act to satisfy the demands of all the various camps within the ANC-led tripartite alliance.

But at the same time, it was to bring Dlamini-Zuma and Dlamini into close range in order to monitor them in view of the fact that both have been his political foes.

This week, Ramaphosa appointed Dlamini-Zuma as minister in the presidency in charge of planning, monitoring and evaluation, and Dlamini as minister for women in the presidency.

This came as a surprise to many because Dlamini-Zuma challenged him for the ANC presidency, while Dlamini campaigned against Ramaphosa and rallied the ANC Women’s League to support Dlamini-Zuma in that battle.

The role of ministers in the presidency is to carry out work on behalf of the president, whose office coordinates all government departments and their service delivery and performance.

Political analyst Professor Steven Friedman said Ramaphosa wanted to bring the two closer to him so they were easier to monitor as leaders of the opposing faction of the ANC.

“They have less room to move than in ordinary [departments].

“This is likely to apply mostly to Dlamini,” Friedman said.

This was echoed by Andre Duvenhage, a political scientist at North West University, who said Ramaphosa’s guiding philosophy was to balance the interests of different factions within the tripartite alliance.

“Keeping Dlamini-Zuma close to him is very important for Ramaphosa because she is influential and has strong links to the Zuma camp.

“But I personally give Ramaphosa credit for this Cabinet. If his aim is to achieve stability and unity in the ANC, this is good for him as a leader and for the party,” Duvenhage said.

He also praised the president for his choice of competent individuals, such as new Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, Pravin Gordhan as minister of public enterprises and for Dlamini-Zuma’s posting.

“These are good leaders who have tremendous track records as ministers,” he said.

Dlamini could not have been returned for any reason other than her influence as the president of the ANCWL, he added.

“It’s not about her competency, it’s about balancing the interests of different groupings within the ANC government.

“There are more than two factions in the ANC, including those from the ANC women’s and youth leagues and the SA Communist Party and Cosatu.

“I think this is a Cabinet for 2019. It is critical for Ramaphosa to keep them together until 2019, but after that anything could happen to these individuals, if not the ANC itself,” Duvenhage said.

But another analyst, Dr Somadoda Fikeni, said it might be a mere coincidence that Dlamini was deployed to Ramaphosa’s office, despite them being political antagonists.

“It could be that they genuinely want her to monitor other ministers in close proximity to Ramaphosa and that there’s nothing sinister about it.

“But it will be interesting to see how the ministers perform between now and the envisaged restructuring of the Cabinet. Whoever does not perform will be dropped,” Fikeni said.

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