Can Cyril Ramaphosa Show Courage Comparable to FW de Klerk?

FW de Klerk devoted much of his life to furthering Afrikaner interests. To the extent that he reached the peak of the South African political power pyramid, leader of the Nationalist Party and state president of South Africa.

I have no doubt that in that journey he did many things that warrant our collective anger and justify him being vilified.

This is not the focus of what I want to bring out here. Rather I want to draw attention to something I believe makes him a political giant, something that all South Africans benefited from.

I also want to compare FW de Klerk, and what I will explain shortly, with Cyril Ramaphosa and why, in this respect, Cyril is a political midget.

de Klerk Paid Attention and Acted

I do not know if what I write here is exactly, or even nearly, what happened. I write about my sense of what happened and what became because of what happened.?I do not know when or where the crucial first seed was planted or how that seed grew. I also do not know how much of this came voluntarily from within FW de Klerk, and how much was forced on him. The crucial thing is that he acted.

In the late 1980s the atmosphere in South Africa was deteriorating. There were many dynamics at play. Many were advocating for an intensification of the armed struggle. Many right wing South Africans were preparing for a fight to the death to preserve the apartheid regime. Many described South Africa as a powder keg waiting for the wrong spark and heading for a brutal showdown.

FW de Klerk used the opening of the apartheid parliament of 1990 to make a number of announcements that were radical for that time. Political prisoners were to be freed, bans on anti-apartheid organisations were to be lifted, the current state of emergency was to be lifted, and the death penalty was to be stayed.

However he arrived at this position FW de Klerk was determined that there should be a transition from the apartheid regime to a fully democratic society.

I believe he had come to comprehend and accept that the continued existence of the Nationalist Party in its current form was not in the interests of the citizens of South Africa. I believe that in spite being vilified by many of his peers he found the courage to do what was necessary for a better future for all South Africans. He put the interests of the country ahead of the interests of his political party, Afrikaner nationalists and other right wingers.

This is the crux of what I want to say and use this to compare FW de Klerk and Cyril Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa May Pay Attention; He Doesn't Act

I find it incomprehensible that Cyril does not understand that the ANC in its current form and composition is disastrous for South Africa and is driving South Africa on a trajectory towards failed state.

I believe Cyril does not have the courage to sacrifice the future of the ANC for the betterment of South Africa. Sustaining the ANC in its current form is fundamentally at odds with the interests of South Africa.

The Crucial Difference

Fw de Klerk was prepared to sacrifice the narrow and self-serving interests of the Nationalist Party for the good of South Africa. This made him a political giant.

Cyril Ramaphosa is not prepared to sacrifice the narrow and self-serving interests of the ANC for the good of South Africa. This makes him a political midget.