Cyril Ramaphosa's praise of Bathabile Dlamini questioned on social media

President Cyril Ramaphosa was Xolani Gwala’s guest on 702 on Thursday, and social media was not entirely impressed with the country’s No 1.

During the interview, Ramaphosa told Gwala that running the country was a "much harder" task than he initially thought it would be.

"It just drains you and draws every ounce of energy out of you. Every day is wall to wall being busy from morning right until night time," said Ramaphosa.

One of the issues he faced related to his responses to questions about Bosasa’s donation to his campaign for ANC presidency.

"It was not paid to me. It was not paid to my trust or to my family trust. People are trying to peddle that there is corruption. There is no truth to that."

Perhaps the most compelling moment of the interview was when Ramaphosa endorsed Bathabile Dlamini and praised her for "doing a good job".

Many people were shocked when he said: "Bathabile Dlamini is the minister of women, who is doing a good job in advancing the interests of women in our country. And she has really raised the bar on how the country should deal with gender-based violence."

It was at this point that social media activity spiked, with many people wondering why the president would speak so highly of someone who had been found wanting in her handling of Sassa grants payments.