Ramokgopa says expropriation fuss is a smokescreen, goal is to topple state

ANC MP and electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has come out guns blazing against those who he says are using the Expropriation Act as their pathway to unseating the government.

Ramokgopa said the idea behind what has now led to diplomatic tensions with the US was an attempt to slow down the transformation agenda that the ANC was pursuing.

Those who are against transformation, he said, had been going around seeking allies who would help them slow down the pace of transformation. According to Ramokgopa, this meant that the ANC and its government was doing well in correcting the injustices of the past.

Ramokgopa said this as he closed the post state of the nation address (Sona) debate before President Cyril Ramaphosa’s response on Thursday.

Referring to them as the “ultra-right lunatic fringe”, Ramokgopa said these are the people in the country who want to undermine the transformation project. Though he did not mention anyone or any organisation, there is a prevailing view that among those who are against the Expropriation Act as well as the R100bn transformation fund are AfriForum, Solidarity and, to an extent, the Freedom Front Plus.

The DA, which is in government with the ANC and other parties, is also challenging the Expropriation Act in court.

Ramokgopa said the real grievance that they had was not necessarily the Expropriation Act but the entire transformation agenda. 

“So they use expropriation as a scarecrow, it's a smoke screen. Their fundamental grievance is the scale and pace of the transformation project. They've been forum shopping, and now they've found an ally,” said Ramokgopa. 

“They are detonating the nuclear options to ensure that they undermine the economy of this country, so that there's a groundswell of social discontent that will unseat this government.” 

He supported Ramaphosa’s move to send an envoy to African countries and the rest of the world to explain the country’s foreign policy as well as what the government wants to achieve in relation to transformation.

“I want to say that we are determined to protect the gains of the democratic project, we will go explain ourselves to the allies and articulate the vision of South Africa that we want, that the transformation project is, indeed, irreversible. We are on the correct path, Comrade President. We will not be bullied,” said Ramokgopa.

Ramokgopa’s sweeping remarks came after ActionSA’s Athol Trollip on Wednesday said the actions of the US and President Donald Trump against the country was as a result of the ANC’s posture towards the West.

Under the ANC, argued Trollip, the government has clearly sided with the Brics countries, among others, and this was not sitting well with the West — so now the “chickens were coming home roost”.

“We have chosen to be friends with many pariah nations that are neither democratic nor uphold human rights, nations at war with their own people through repressive regimes,” said Trollip.

“ANC — the leaders of this GNU — your sins are catching up with you. You have prostituted yourselves to the highest bidders who grease your party wheels with no regard for the consequences. The New World Order sees which side you’ve picked, and now the chickens have come home to roost.”

ANC MP and health minister Aaron Motsoaledi had some harsh words for DA MP Mathew Cuthbert who on Wednesday said the DA was not in the GNU merely to rubberstamp the ANC’s policies under the umbrella of the national democratic revolution.

Cuthbert said he was happy the national health insurance (NHI) targets had been removed from the medium-term development plan which he said was the first in protecting private healthcare.

He criticised the Expropriation Act as having “wrought havoc” in the country and abroad suggesting that it has “created uncertainty” for investors.

But Motsoaledi said Cuthbert was grossly mistaken, especially about the NHI.

He said Ramaphosa had made it clear in his Sona that his government this year will proceed with the preparatory work of NHI. 

“Regardless of this, some doomsayers still persist in their denial. Yesterday during this debate, honourable Cuthbert said that he's happy that NHI is no longer in the MTDP, is off the table,” said Motsoaledi. “Sorry, sir, it is there, and it ought to be there, and it's going to continue being there.”

Motsoaledi said people who have criticised the NHI have clearly not read what the act ought to achieve.

“I've listened to people talking about NHI without even having read the act, and they start by distorting the definition of NHI,” he said.

“NHI, or universal health coverage, is not a new system of healthcare, as some of you are prone to saying. It is not a system which people implement because they are rich, but NHI is a healthcare financing system that covers everybody, regardless of their socioeconomic status. That's what it means.”

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