A VIEW OF THE WEEK: Ramaphosa and his government’s solutions will leave you board

I am not a drinking man, and thank goodness for it. Otherwise, if there was a drinking game for the number of times President Cyril Ramaphosa or his ministers mentioned committees and boards during this week’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) debates, I may have died from alcohol poisoning. It has been eight years since Ramaphosa promised a New Dawn, free of the corruption of the past and filled with less crime and improved service delivery.

He later described his predecessor Jacob Zuma’s presidency as “nine wasted years”,something Zuma’s new fly-by-night foot soldiers again denied this week. But it soon became clear that Ramaphosa was running out of ideas and was backed into a corner by some in the ANC. His solution: create more and more commissions, committees, and boards.

Perhaps he thought through these, and bringing certain portfolios into his office, he could be closer to the action and possible solutions. If nothing more, it would create a public perception that he actually cared to solve the problems his voters had. Some parts of the economy may be on the up, but unemployment and government debt-to-GDP ratios are worse than when the New Dawn was declared.

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A key part of this work sits with the Vulindlela task force, created by Ramaphosa, which coordinates with the National Treasury and reports directly to the president. While load shedding has ended under Ramaphosa, it saw its peak during his presidency. At its worst, Ramaphosa created the National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM) and appointed a Minister in the Presidency responsible for Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. Now that water issues are following a similar trajectory, Ramaphosa has established a presidential-led water crisis committee.

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