President Cyril Ramaphosa gets pilloried every day by his detractors in the ANC and by ordinary South Africans who want him to succeed but are frustrated by his chameleon-like speed on dealing with the country’s challenges.
On the occasion of the 73rd Anniversary of the ANC, delivering its NEC’s 1985 January Statement, then president, Oliver Reginald Tambo directed the youth to render South Africa ungovernable. What followed this command was resistance by an inspired generation of young people who confronted the apartheid government with stones forcing it to announce a partial state of emergency on 20 July 1985.
Eric Naki As minister in the Presidency, Mthembu was a de facto prime minister and the face of the Presidency. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Jackson Mthembu share a moment in Parliament during President Jacob Zuma’s question and answer #ZumaQandA on June 22, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / Business Day / Esa Alexander) When the news of the death of Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu came, it was as though a deputy president or even a president had just died. I am not surprised. A teller at Shoprite, seeing me buying a copy of The Citizen with the story I wrote about the minister’s demise on Friday, remarked: “I can’t believe Jackson is no more, people like him shouldn’t die. He was too good to die.” My wife sent me a WhatsApp voice note a few hours after the news