‘The next 18 months will be hell for our country’: Lindiwe Mazibuko on Phala Phala fallout

“A Ramaphosa resignation is what the crooks ordered. The next 18 months will be hell for our country.”

So said former DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, predicting the country’s future amid calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down.

An independent panel headed by retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo found Ramaphosa may have committed a serious violation of the law and serious misconduct in terms of the constitution.

According to Mazibuko, Ramaphosa’s resignation would open the door for “the nastiest, most craven and unrepentant criminals” in the ANC to start feasting again.

“Are you ready for ‘President David Mabuza’?” she asked.

“We will not have an early election and whoever is calling for one is looking for an ‘angle’ into the story. Like Tories in the UK, the ANC will simply hold onto power and shuffle the leadership deck.”

Mazibuko said she would welcome former ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe as a potential caretaker president, saying leaders like international relations and co-operation minister Naledi Pandor and justice minister Ronald Lamola lack time to build the groundswell.

“The ANC leadership deck is empty. Credible leaders such as Naledi Pandor or Ronald Lamola lack the time to build the groundswell for a win with literal days to go before conference. I would welcome another Motlanthe caretaker presidency but it’s a temporary solution at best,” she said.

“ In 2024 we get to decide if it is time to end South Africa’s abusive relationship with the ANC. The decision is still ours to make.”

DA leader John Steenhuisen said the official opposition party would rather have government dissolved than a Mabuza presidency.

“If Ramaphosa is recalled now, we’ll end up with a corrupt president Mabuza. If Ramaphosa survives until their elective conference but is defeated, we could end up with a corrupt president Mkhize.

“And if Ramaphosa somehow triumphs at the conference we’re stuck with a corrupt President Ramaphosa, whose focus will be on his own political survival rather than on the good of the nation,” said Steenhuisen.

He said the country should not have to choose between the alleged Phala Phala corruption of Ramaphosa, the alleged Digital Vibes corruption of Mkhize or the alleged Mafia state of Mabuza.

“Our country and its people deserve far better than this terrible set of options,” said Steenhuisen.

“Let us also be very clear, Ramaphosa is not a helpless victim in all of this. The collapse of his presidency is entirely his own doing.

“He could not have asked for a stronger mandate and more support for the reform agenda on which he campaigned four years ago. He had it all on a plate, he just needed to act.”

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