Ramaphosa’s promises and undertakings no longer carry any weight

4 September 2023

The ANC's style of governance entails standing idly by and looking on while problems develop, and then promising to rectify those problems – but everyone knows the promises are empty and will not realise.

In the speeches President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered over the weekend, he undertook to address crime, the murder of police members, the problem with illegal miners and poor border control.

These are some of the issues that the President mentions in every SONA, while making the same empty promises to act. He always says what ought to be done, but his words are never followed by actions.

The FF Plus is also very sceptical about the President's announcement that he himself will issue a summary of the panel report on the Russian ship, the Lady R. It will most probably be more of a cover-up than an honest attempt to inform the public of the actual events.

It is general knowledge that the Minister of Defence, Thandi Modise, said in December 2022 that ammunition for the South African National Defence Force (SANW) was unloaded from the ship.

At the time, I said that the Minister serves on the National Conventional Arms Control Committee and should, therefore, have all the facts at her disposal.

There would be no reason for secrecy if the transaction had been carried out in compliance with the relevant prescripts, so, the fact that it happened in secret and at night raises several questions.

At first, the details were denied and now they are being withheld by the President, supposedly because of their sensitive nature.

If there is nothing extraordinary about the transaction, there is certainly no security-related reason to withhold the details.

Such actions only create suspicion and, in my opinion, there is something amiss which is being covered up on the highest level.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 4 September 2023