Are we now seeing the real Cyril? Plus five highlights from ‘Vrye Weekblad’

What's behind Cyril 2.0, and where has this guy been since 2018?

The Cyril Ramaphosa of the past couple of months is the president we have been waiting for for more than two years: decisive, determined and with no patience for rubbish.  

He put his strongest supporter in the cabinet, Gwede Mantashe, in his place by declaring that the platform for private power generation would be raised from 10MW to 100MW.

He addressed the mess in our ports by establishing a new ports authority. The managing share in SAA has been sold to a private company and more privatisation is in the pipeline. 

Ramaphosa has expressed his impatience with red tape repeatedly over the past few weeks. This lag is like a disease that stunts economic growth. 

The state needs to cut the time it takes to get things done by half, the president said. 

His utterings about what is going on in his own party were equally harsh.

The deployment of incompetent cadres needs to end. Entitlement is a massive problem. The ANC cannot be sacrificed at the altar of thuggery. The ANC's house is in flames and all members have to come with their buckets of water, he said. 

But why now?

What is the explanation for this awakening? What happened to the long game?

The only explanation is that he was waiting to properly get the upper hand in the ANC's NEC and other structures. And that has happened.

Read more about this, and more news and analysis in this week's Vrye Weekblad.

Must-read articles in this week’s Vrye Weekblad

>> Browse the full June 25 edition

UNFINISHED BUSINESS | The upgrading of 1 Military Hospital in Thaba Tshwane and the military hospitals in Cape Town and Bloemfontein started in 2005 but the work is still not completed. The army is keeping mum about rumours of wasteful spending and other forms of corruption. 

FUNNY NOT FUNNY | President Cyril Ramaphosa's office is trying to make light of his “joke” about his “stolen iPad”, but it was an unpresidential thing to say in a crime-riddled country. 

ANGRY SA | What is making South Africans so angry? It is unwise to ignore the brooding dissatisfaction on the extreme sides of the political spectrum. 

WAS PW RIGHT ABOUT THE REDS?  | Who were the only whities who were welcomed into the ANC and acknowledged as comrades, asks Koos Kombuis. Only those who followed a certain philosophy, or seemed to. It was not enough to be against apartheid. You had to support the revolution. You had to smell red. 

OF LOST BABIES | It is every journalist's biggest fear: You write about the first woman ever to give birth to 10 babies at once, but after publication, the babies can't be found. Our resident satirist has great understanding of this dilemma, and she has big news herself!