The government has issued a raft of regulations in the more than four months since Covid-19 made landfall in South Africa. But President Cyril Ramaphosa has not called a single press conference or once invited journalists to question his decisions or examine the government’s reasoning. It leaves democracy weaker, argues Pieter du Toit.
When he was at the zenith (or is it nadir?) of his powers in around 2015 and 2016, Jacob Zuma was close to being an unstoppable force.
He had shaped the governing ANC into his image (corrupted and unaccountable), co-opted Parliament as one of his main defenders (thanks to a pliant ANC caucus and willing speaker) and infiltrated every state institution of consequence (enabled by the ANC’s cadre deployment policy).
LIVE | All the latest coronavirus and lockdown updates
Zuma commanded all he surveyed. And he never answered questions or faced journalists in a media conference, as is the norm for heads of state in all democracies. When he appeared in Parliament to answer oral questions, as he was compelled to do, he scoffed at attempts to hold him accountable, shielded by Parliament’s presiding officers who were more concerned with serving Zuma than upholding the Constitution.
The damage wrought on South Africa, thanks to the disastrous and corrupted years of misrule by Zuma and the ANC, is undisputed.
State institutions have been disembowelled with most, if not all, still battling to effect repairs. Proper governance has all but collapsed on all three levels of government, with municipalities across the country becoming focal points of looting by party loyalists. And thanks to the maiming of the police, the Hawks and prosecuting authority, criminality is rewarded with impunity.
When Covid-19 made landfall in March, it only worsened things. The economy, already teetering on the brink of disaster thanks to poor planning and weak policy execution, was dealt a further hammer blow. And it ruthlessly exposed this government’s lack of preparedness, the state’s creaking and declining infrastructure and Cabinet’s crippling lack of leadership.
Similar outcomes
It has now become clear that when it comes to accountability, it doesn’t matter whether Zuma or Cyril Ramaphosa is president – the outcome remains the same.
On 31 May 2020 Rampahosa, during an engagement with members of the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) said: “Yes, we will be able to take questions and I’m happy to do so, as we do nationwide addresses, we will do that and on the following sessions, we will be able to take questions…”
This was in response to increased frustration among journalists that Ramaphosa was being shielded from scrutiny by his spokespeople and advisors, following a direct question to him during the Sanef meeting on when he would answer questions in a media conference format.
Last Sunday, Ramaphosa again addressed the country – but no arrangements were made for a media briefing afterwards, despite his undertaking.
Ramaphosa has delivered several national addresses since he announced the declaration of a national state of disaster on Sunday, 15 March 2020. His government has issued a raft of regulations in the more than four months that have followed and his ministers, many ill-prepared and ill-informed, have faced up to numerous media briefings.
But the head of state, the individual who is leading the national response to the disaster, has not once faced the media like his ministers have had to do. Ramaphosa has not called a single media conference or once invited journalists to question his decisions or examine government’s reasoning.
His meeting with Sanef was in a sanitised and controlled environment, with editors first subjected to a 45-minute monologue before seven or eight questions were posed and his spokesperson whisked him away to his next appointment. And he betrayed his approach to these engagements with editors when he said he would have preferred it to have been over dinner. Rather a chummy téte-a-téte than an adversarial interrogation.
Ramaphosa is clearly not amenable to his decision-making processes and the policies of his government being tested and examined by the media.
This lack of commitment to accountability and transparency, however, is part of government – and ANC – culture and convention. There is an inherent suspicion of scrutiny, whether it’s by the opposition or the media, both whose function it is to probe and question those who wield political power.
Reports not released
The refusal of Health Minister Zweli Mkhize to release the more than 70 advisories offered to the government by the Ministerial Advisory Committee is a case in point. The government’s regulations, whether it is on the tobacco ban, the prohibition of alcohol or the wide berth it has given funerals and taxis, is supposedly based on empirical evidence. The state wants the citizenry to comply, but it doesn’t want to explain its decisions.
When Thabo Mbeki was dealt the mortal blow to his political career at the ANC’s elective conference outside Polokwane in December 2007, he called a press conference within days of his defeat. On the back lawn of the presidential guest house on Meintjeskop in Pretoria, the ousted leader of the ANC (but still head of state), for two hours or more, sat behind a table and answered difficult and uncomfortable questions. He opened himself up and the media could ask him anything – unemcumbered and unsanitised.
Ramaphosa doesn’t to press conferences. He prefers national monologues – and it leaves our democracy weaker.
Stay healthy and entertained during the national lockdown. Sign up for our Lockdown Living newsletter. Sign up and manage your newsletters in the new News24 app by clicking on the Profile tab
