Ronald Lamola: Youngest cog in Cyril’s Cabinet believes ANC will survive

On a quiet Reconciliation Day, a telephonic interview with Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola was disrupted thrice – he had to attend to his noisy kids.

When not doing baby sitting duties for two boys, aged four and one, Lamola enjoys house music and Afrojazz and watches soccer – he is a fan of Kaizer Chiefs and used to own a vuvuzela when he was younger.

These days, he’s too busy to watch much football. Nobody doubts that young as he is, Lamola is trusted by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who despite his youth, gave the minister the complex task to take care of two merged departments – justice and constitutional development and correctional services.

It surprised many because they expected a senior party member to be deployed in the department.

“I see my appointment as the elevation of the youth of my generation. Together we represent a particular group that the this country needs as it transition into the future. We represent change and a necessary generational mix within the party and the state,” he said.

He cites other young Cabinet ministers such as Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, and Mmamoloko “Nkhensani’ Kubayi-Ngubane. Asked if he was aware that some saw him as the future president of the ANC and the country, Lamola chuckled, but responded quickly.

“Obviously I see that as an honour. Actually, I’m humbled that some people feel that way.”

When asked to describe himself in one word or in a single sentence he was quick to respond: “One who wants to succeed.”

Lamola has his job cut out for him. But the young man believes he was made for the task and has begun to enjoy the job. At the age of 38 he is the youngest minister in the Ramaphosa Cabinet. He is the epitome of humility, having been born on a farm in Komatipoort on the Mozambique border.

“So there are nine of us with my mother, that’s what we knew. I won’t know whether I was first, second or third or the last child in the family because my father had four kids of his own and my mother had three of her own when they met and that became one big family,” he says casually.

As a son of farmworkers, he became a tough nut as a child because they had to be on their own most of the time while their parents attended to farm duties. The boy fell in love with politics because his father liked to listen to news bulletins on radio.

His father would strictly tell the children to keep quiet during news time. This made the young Lamola pay attention to news and sharpened his general knowledge, with him developing an informed understanding of the regular political violence in KwaZulu-Natal and East Rand.

But hearing about Nelson Mandela’s release from jail and the roles played by the likes of Ramaphosa and others at the time during the constitutional negotiations prior to 1994, elevated his interest in politics.

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“I was inspired by these leaders but I was still too young to participate or know anything. But when I got to school I played an active role.”

His baptism in student politics came first as member of the Students Representative Council at high school in Bushbuckridge and at the University of Venda when he studied for an LLB degree. He did his articles at a law firm in Mpumalanga where he was admitted as an attorney.

As a member of the South African Students Congress (Sasco) at varsity, he grew closer to the ANC Youth league, which later recruited him into the league’s structure. After moving to the league’s provincial executive committee, he was then elected deputy president to Julius Malema.

Lamola credits his youth generation as having influenced much of the direction the ANC took in leadership and various policies it adopted pertaining to renewal, economy and state mining companies.

“As the youth, we came up with the ‘Decade of the Cadre’ which focused on organisational renewal, integrity and generational mix.

“We felt we needed to renew leadership and that the youth should swell the ranks of the ANC. I’m proud to say many of our proposals were adopted at the Mangaung ANC conference in 2012.”

Rising from Malema’s shadow after the fiery leader was expelled from the ANC, Lamola began to move to Luthuli House. He inherited the league with all its controversies but refused to be dragged into ill-discipline by undermining party senior leadership.

He refused to follow Malema and others who left the ANC, but chose to stay and fight for change within. But that did not spare him from accusations by the EFF that he sold out by staying.

Lamola is optimistic about ANC’s survival despite its recent electoral poor performance and ongoing party divisions.

“I do believe that the ANC will survive this storm. There are many people and the youth within the party who will invigorate it.

“The ANC does allow for free debates within itself and that makes the party dynamic.”

ericn@citizen.co.za