In times of crisis, Cyril just watched and was silent

This letter first appeared in the Sunday Times, on 16/07/2017.
It appears that Cyril Ramaphosa, has suddenly found his voice. Speaking at the SACP conference he stated he will “not remain silent” and “cannot turn a blind eye or keep quiet”. This makes a remarkable about-turn from the myopia and muteness of his last eight years as Deputy President and leader of government business in Parliament.
During the Nkandla debacle, Nenegate, the Waterkloof landing scandal, and as our state owned entities collapsed under the weight of Gupterisation and the economy tanked, Cyril watched and remained silent. He bottled every opportunity to stand up to state capture and actually do something decisive. Never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity, he voted slavishly every time to keep Zuma despite the brutal judgements of the Constitutional Court. He watched cabinet colleagues like Nene, Gordhan and Jonas being picked off one by one, yet did nothing.
Now, with vaulting ambition to be President, Cyril wants to hoodwink South Africans into believing that he is suddenly the guardian of good and will miraculously fix the rotten ANC. South Africa needs strong, decisive and principled leadership, the last thing it needs is more weak and vacillating leadership and fair-weather principles that have become the hallmarks of the Ramaphosa brand.