Looking at a loser: Ramaphosa the 'never-ran'

“Newspapers said I was a dark horse in regard to Polokwane. I object to this — I may be dark, but I’m not a horse.” So said Cyril Ramaphosa last night at the launch of Anthony Butler’s biography of him.

Describing himself as a “victim” of the writer, the former ANC secretary general nevertheless complimented Butler for his research and dedicated the book to SA’s mineworkers.

Ramaphosa said he hoped readers would take away from the book his own passion for constitutions and law-governed behaviour.

South Africa’s Constitution, he argued, gave Butler the right to write the biography without the blessing of its subject. The Constitution, he said, also gave the Sunday Times the right to hammer government over the electricity crisis.

AN ASIDE:

On the same platform, Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya made literal light of the very same right. Noting that government institutions always did the opposite of what the press said, he announced that he would call on Eskom to immediately cut the power in the auditorium.

True to form, the electricity stayed on for the whole proceedings.

Many of the hundreds attending the book launch evidently saw Ramaphosa as the person they had hoped would be the next president — giving the man a standing ovation after his speech.

Earlier, as they arrived at the event, they were offered the chance to buy signed copies of the book. It turns out that these were autographed not — as is usual — by the author (Butler), but by the subject (Ramaphosa).

However, it wasn’t entirely a glory-fest for Cyril.

A joke started by Makhanya, and repeated by both Butler and Ramaphosa, during the event, was to talk about “that event in December which ought not, and cannot be, spoken about”.

The reference was to the humiliating toppling of Thabo Mbeki at Polokwane. But what was carefully avoided on Thursday night’s platform was why Ramaphosa had remained a non-factor at the same conference.

Even now, it’s Kgalema Motlante’s name that is mentioned as a Jacob Zuma alternative — not Cyril’s.

Some guests at the launch said that Ramaphosa had sounded presidential in his speech. In fact, he came across as keen to show that he could have made a great president … but simultaneously, and sadly, as also being one who knows that the betting is off.

A hint as to why Cyril couldn’t capitalise on dissatisfaction with Mbeki came in final remarks at the book launch.

In thanking the speakers, a representative of Exclusive Books said he had noticed how Ramaphosa had referred to South Africa having “a Rolls Royce of a Constitution” … and not a “Maybach” of one.

It was a real eina of a jibe — given Ramaphosa’s dislike of publicity about his purchase of the mega-expensive Maybach car.

Yet indirectly, the remark served as a reminder that Ramaphosa’s riches may have helped ruined his chances to rule the presidency. On the other hand, it may just be that this is a man who is simply too much of a gent to win in the gloves-off world of ANC politics.

Either way, I’m hoping that Butler’s book will help me understand Ramaphosa … the relinquisher.

I also hope the book will tell us whether, as with Al Gore, this is a political person who still has an aspiration to contribute to public life, even if it’s in an arena that’s an alternative to the presidency.