Steenhuisen: Ramaphosa a spectator during Covid-19 crisis
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has labelled President Cyril Ramaphosa as a spectator who has stood by while the economy implodes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The official opposition has also accused Ramaphosa of allowing “rogue ministers” take over the state amid the Covid-19 crisis.
Speaking on Tuesday, DA interim leader John Steenhuisen said Ramaphosa has failed to show decisive leadership in the 100 days since the country has gone into lockdown.
"We needed someone to step up and take charge, but what we got was a president obsessed with dialogues, reaching out and building consensus.
"And this has been the story of his presidency to date: a lot of talk and a lot of promises, but very little action or leadership.”
Steenhuisen said a top-secret document was leaked to the DA from the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department.
The document apparently details how the department imagines the state should function.
Steenhuisen said at the core of the document is a proposal to extend the National Coronavirus Command Council and also the provincial command councils systems well beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Because while our president has been watching it all unfold from the sidelines, others have been very busy. Most notably, Cogta Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
"Since the declaration of the State of Disaster, the unchecked power handed to the Cogta minister has made her our de-facto president. And she has wasted no time digging herself in.
"We’ve already seen multiple commitments made by the president on live TV undone a couple of days later by Dlamini-Zuma.”
Steenhuisen believes Dlamini-Zuma's reluctance to reverse the ban on the sale of tobacco products is nothing more than a power play on her part.
"President Ramaphosa, if you’re in charge, and not minister Dlamini-Zuma, then you need to stop being a spectator to all of this and step up to the plate," he said.
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The party has been denied direct access by the Constitutional Court, but interim leader John Steenhuisen says this will not deter the party's efforts to fix what it believes to be flaws in the act. "This will delay our action, but it most certainly will not deter us.