56 WORDS IN ACTION http://www.abrbuzz.co.za
Davos Man
Next up, Ramaphosa and his vast entourage will descend on
Davos, Switzerland, and resume the selling of Brand South
Africa to dour Europeans and Bitcoin-fattened Americans.
The tectonically useless theme is, “Creating shared value in a
fractured world”, but who cares about that crap? In eff ect, the
president of the ANC and his pals have to make our debt palatable
to the markets by insisting that the country is being remade in his
image. And what is Ramaphosa’s image? It is defi ned, of course,
by the fact that he’s one of them – a ranking member of the 0.1
percent, a politician-turned-billionaire-turned politician who will
end the game of silly buggers and get back to Business with a
capital-B.
Indeed, as Ramaphosa’s tenure matures, it’s not too much
to expect that he’ll become something of an emblem for this
global hyper-class – the Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet ornament on
their gleaming geopolitical Rolls Royce. He’s so urbane, so
ingratiating, so unembarrassed by the wealth he’s accumulated,
that you can imagine him giving the keynote address at Davos
in 2021, standing before newly inaugurated president Oprah
Winfrey, extolling the virtues of steady-as-she-goes economic
policies while throwing the odd sop to the diminishing “radical”
wing in the ANC, who sit brooding in the mansions of their
gangster benefactors, remembering the days when state-owned
enterprises were easy marks, and “tender” described something
other than a steak at the Grill House.
In a perfectly imperfect world, the corporate/gangster state
ecosystem sustains itself, guided ever so gently by Obamas
or Clintons or Blairs or Merkels or Macrons and their backers.
Occasionally, shysters like Marcus Jooste or Jacob Zuma,
through a combination of outrageous greed and boundless
stupidity, blow up the whole game. Some of these idiots go to
jail; others live put their days in abject cupidity in fake countries
with no extradition treaties. And as for the populist ructions that
appear to defi ne the world in 2018? They are momentary blips in
the geologically-measured neoliberal time-stream – institutional
Big Money always wins.And Cyril Ramaphosa represents nothing more so than he does
institutional big money. We have thus returned to the ANC’s
factory default setting – a centrist party in the centre of nothing.
What makes this iteration slightly exceptional is that the gangsters
now hide in plain view – we’re speaking here of Mabuza and (Lord
help us) Secretary-General Ace Magashule. The smartest among
them are biding their time, waiting for the inevitable upheavals
in the street so they can jump on the next radical transformation
bandwagon to pass them by.Meanwhile, Ramaphosa’s power lasts until the national elections
of 2019. If he delivers – if he re-ups his energy stores and moves
to the next level – he lives another day. If he loses Gauteng
(to whom, I have no idea), and if the party drops below a 50%
majority in Parliament, he’s done. Power shifts, and quickly. We
are enveloped in one of those moments right now. And yet, we
should by no means mistake it for anything other than it is: an
ANC grandee, having his day, while the future plots challenges
that are unimaginable right now, and for which the system he
represents is entirely unequipped to manage.These are his salad days. The meat course will be unpleasant,
and not only for the meat.TWO: Letter to deputy president
and newly-elected ANC president
Cyril Ramaphosa, from Paul O’Sullivan
EDINBURGH — Paul O’Sullivan has invested huge sums of his own cash and personal time in fi ghting against corruption.
Along with non-governmental organisations, his entity has played a role in helping to put the brakes on the plundering of
resources under President Jacob Zuma. Now that Cyril Ramaphosa has been elected as ANC leader and will probably be
the next South African president, there are signs that state law-enforcement agencies are turning on those within their
ranks who have been played like puppets by the Gupta and Zuma families. The authorities have moved to freeze assets
linked to the Guptas and Zumas in the Free State and have started legal proceedings to claw back fees from graft-tainted
global consultancy McKinsey – which raked in huge sums from Eskom on a sham contract. As change becomes evident in
the political environment, Paul O’Sullivan is getting ready to put away his forensic investigator’s badge and return to his
private business interests. He highlights civil society’s victories against criminals in the battle to preserve a democracy
where the rule of law applies. – Jackie Cameron
Dear Cyril,
Road Map for South Africa – Making Forensics for Justice Superfl uous
As you probably know already, Forensics for Justice, was formed out of the dire need for civil society to take on the ravages of corruption
within the criminal justice system and certain State Owned Companies. As one of the founders, my commitment has been in the form
of cash and my personal time, which has included personal sacrifi ce on a level I never thought would be necessary in a South Africa of
today. If you go to http://www.forensicsforjustice.org you will see evidence of the following cases we have pursued: