“Ramaphosa corruption purge begins: First ANC minister in dock #StateCapture” ?

Is it not too early to sing praises for Ramaphosa in this regard?

An article published by Biznews suggests that “Ramaphosa corruption purge begins: First ANC minister in dock” following the arrest of former minister of State Security Bongani Bongo. I wonder if it is not quite early to make such bold or decisive statements. I was personally very optimistic about Ramaphosa and naive enough I actually believed in the politician.

Ramaphosa has had two years to act on his ticket to fame as an anti-corruption president and even for a minute got the support of the opposition parties with EFF chanting “babophe Ramaphosa” meaning “arrest them Ramaphosa” in respect of some of his alleged corrupt comrades. However, two years down the line we are only given a teaser by the arrest of Bongani Bongo.

Well we may still give Ramaphosa the benefit of the doubt despite having been playing politics rather than outright cleaning the cabinet from the onset when he chose his new cabinet. In selecting his new cabinet there was quite a clear selection based on political strategy and not necessarily based on track record of all the selected candidates. A clear mix of the various factions in the ANC appears to be represented in Ramaphosa’s cabinet. I for one never understood it and was opposed to it and wanted Ramaphosa to clean out all the ministers who were implicated in some way or the other on the state capture inquiry.

It is now that I understand and can at least still give Ramaphosa the benefit of the doubt. If he is to successfully purge the ANC government of corruption he will have to play his cards right and do it one step at a time in a calculated fashion. I am not too optimistic anymore, however I can still give him the benefit of the doubt. This follows the fact that the same comrades that he needs to get rid of may be the same comrades that he needs to back him if he is to remain president and not get impeached by his own party. In other words if he is going to have a chance at attempting to fulfill any of his promises, Ramaphosa may as well need to keep the friends of anti-corruption close and the corruption-mongers closer.

I essentially can understand this as a possible strategy that may require quite extensive patience on the part of the public but I still wont hold my breath. I would like to believe that the possible strategy is to expose the corrupt comrades through channels such as the State Capture Inquiry without Ramaphosa getting his hands dirty or a bulls eye on his back from his own compadres.

I will however believe in his anti-corruption campaign when I see real action being taken against all those implicated at the State Capture Inquiry without fear or favour. It sounds ungrateful not to give him credit for the little done so far, however we have been fooled before and as such we’ll be unrepentant fools to fall for campaign statements without solid evidence of action.

It may therefore at this point be too early to make a big deal out of the arrest of Bongani Bongo and it would be wiser if we watch and see.

For further details on the story of Bongani Bongo see Biznews.com.