Will Ramaphosa step up his leadership style to manage GNU?

John Perlman interviews Qaanitah Hunter, political editor at News24.

As Friday's first sitting of the National Assembly looms, the ANC's negotiating team has been working full tilt to meet with opposition parties.

News24 reports that by Tuesday afternoon, the majority of parties had agreed to 'unite' behind President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement of the chosen government of national unity (GNU).

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But does Ramaphosa have what it takes to manage what lies ahead? 

Qaanitah Hunter, political editor at News24, argues that he does not.

'Ramaphosa survived his first term through political gimmicks and walking on eggshells', she writes.

"The last six years have shown us Ramaphosa dances around difficult decisions, avoids confrontation like the plague and has built a mini parallel state in his office instead of doing the hard work of fixing things."  

Qaanitah Hunter, Political Editor - News24 

In conversation with John Perlman, Hunter says the negotiations leading up to Friday are the 'easy part', as are the following initial trade-offs and apportioning of positions.

Ramaphosa is a president who 'barely took action' against his own ministers even in the midst of serious conflict, she goes on.

"The point I'm making is that South Africa is waking up to the reality of a whole new structure, a whole new government... so the type of leadership style that we saw Ramaphosa implementing in his first term cannot and will not be enough to sustain a tricky and bumpy road that is about to come."

"My point is not to dismiss Ramaphosa as a bad leader. It's that his choice of how he runs the executive, where I make the argument that he was a referee for a federation of ministers in the Cabinet versus their leader."

"There are going to be very tricky situations where he has to force his way through. I worry about what it means for the wheels of governance and for things to act happen, because we don't have a good example on a local level of how the efficiency of the state could withstand political instability." 

Qaanitah Hunter, Political Editor - News24 

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