Johannesburg - DA leader John Steenhuisen has described President Cyril Ramaphosa as a “political trickster“.
Steenhuisen has decried Ramaphosa’s lack of leadership, saying the Zuma years were much better than the Ramaphosa years, which have brought nothing but economic decline and unprecedented levels of load shedding.
He was speaking during a debate on the Presidency budget vote in the National Assembly on Wednesday, when Ramaphosa was slammed by opposition parties for his lack of leadership.
Steenhuisen said Ramaphosa had fooled South Africans into believing that he would lead them to a better place. He added that his supporters in the business sector were slowly starting to see him as a failure of note.
“After four years of deceit, it is now time for some hard truth. The truth is that life in South Africa today is far worse for everyone than it was even during the lowest point of the Zuma years.
“The truth, Mr President, is that you fooled the people of South Africa into believing that you could lead our country to better days. But you are not a leader.
“What you are is a confidence trickster. A political swindler who milked your connections to become a billionaire and then left South Africa down and bleeding in the dirt once you were done with us,” he said.
The EFF called for an inquiry into the Phala Phala farm scandal.
EFF deputy Floyd Shivambu said that the Phala Phala report that Ramaphosa was no longer challenging had made serious findings against him.
“Let us get a proper inquiry. Let us deal with it; let us confront it. We can’t hide it under the sofa forever; let us deal with it. And also, you are not going to be president forever," he said.
The president attempted to allay the fears of South Africans over the load shedding crisis, saying the government had many measures to reduce load shedding and add more megawatts to the grid by the end of the year.
He said energy security was his and the government’s priority.
“In the coming months, we will initiate the procurement of more than 10 000MW of additional generation capacity from wind, solar, gas, and battery storage, which will further contribute to closing the shortfall in energy supply,” Ramaphosa said.
While reports indicate that the country could face its worst energy crisis yet amid fears of stage 9 of load shedding, Ramaphosa dismissed claims that there could be a total blackout in the country as the grid was on the verge of collapse.
The Star