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Ahmed takes cautious approach to Ramaphosa presidency

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The former Chief Executive Officer of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has expressed mixed feelings about the resignation of former President Jacob Zuma and the installation of President as his replacement.

Kayum Ahmed has praised the mobilization of the country’s civil society groupings in Zuma’s demise but cautioned that while the Ramaphosa era was likely to bring political and economic stability, it was unlikely to benefit everyone.

“I think I have lots of mixed feelings towards the recalling of President Zuma and the installation of President Ramaphosa. I think on the one hand the recalling of President Zuma is a huge victory for civil society organisations, for individuals in SA who’ve been calling for his removal and I do think it’s a signalling shift of the importance of social movement, student movements that have all arisen during the Zuma Presidency. But on the other hand I think Ramaphosa’s installation as the new President will certainly bring a level of political and economic stability, will probably most likely benefit wealthy, white South Africans, big corporations, international financial institutions, so I think it’s a bit of a paradoxical moment for us, sort of a bitter sweet moment. I think that while we can as citizens breathe a sigh of relief that Zuma is gone, at the same time we cannot stop ensuring that we hold the government and the ANC in particular, accountable.”

Ahmed says he is not sure that there’s going to by any radical shift in policy with the Ramaphosa presidency. “There may be some tweaks, I think SA international reputation will be enhanced as a result Ramaphosa’s presidency but I’m not entirely sure we’re going to see a radical shift that we often expect with changes in leadership.”

“I think that the ANC struggled with this particular issue, it’s not the first time with the removal of President Thabo Mbeki, there were similar tensions and frictions, but I do think that the ANC at the end of the day will probably benefit from this significantly from this in the next 2019 election because they recognize that this was a politically strategic move for them. I think their handling of the matter is always going to be up for critique and one needs to acknowledge that but at the end of the day they took the hard decision for their own self-preservation of course but it will also as a result of intense political scrutiny, civic action and individual action on the part of ordinary South Africans, we should never lose sight of that.”

On Ramaphosa’s and US President Donald Trump’s relationship: Ahmed says, “Well, Trump is often someone who is completely unpredictable and it’s hard to say how he’s going to respond to the Ramaphosa presidency. I do think that strangely enough there are some parallels, Trump is also a businessman and as a result of his Presidency had a huge impact on the stock market, of course there’ve been recent corrections and potentially, Ramaphosa and Trump may have some things in common. Weirdly enough but at the same time, the political tension between SA and the US which has been a long-standing one dating back to Apartheid, is certainly one that is not necessarily be resolved because of the Ramaphosa presidency, I think that Ramaphosa may be much more astute diplomatically speaking and politically speaking and be able to navigate around the Trump Presidency far better than Zuma could, but I’m not necessarily sure it’s going to change the relationship between the two countries.”

Ahmed says the  biggest item on the agenda for Ramaphosa needs to be to shift the discourse on socio-economic rights particularly constitutional rights in SA for the poorest and the marginalized. ” I know its hard thing to do but certainly one that is possible within the ambit of the Presidency and within the ANC policies that are in place at the moment.”

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