'High promises, dololo delivery' – Economist slams Ramaphosa for doing nothing

IOL News

09-06-2025

According to Professor Jannie Rossouw from Wits Business School, President Cyril Ramaphosa has failed to deliver meaningful results ever since taking office.
Image: GCIS
Professor Jannie Rossouw of Wits Business School has described President Cyril Ramaphosa as an "ineffective" leader who has contributed "nothing" since taking office, and is now leaning on race-based policies like B-BBEE to win back support for the ANC.
Speaking to IOL News on Monday, Rossouw said Ramaphosa is using race-based empowerment policies such as the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act and the Employment Equity Act to try and regain support for his party.
The African National Congress (ANC), is currently the leader of the Government of National Unity (GNU), which includes other parties.
'Mr Ramaphosa is at the end of his presidency,' Rossouw said.
'His party is in trouble. It's losing support all the time. So he's making these statements in the hope that it will improve support for the ANC.'
His comments came after Ramaphosa's recent weekly newsletter, in which he defended the B-BBEE and the Employment Equity Act.
Ramaphosa rejected what he called a 'false notion' that South Africa must choose between economic growth and transformation.
He said the country must remain committed to redressing historical injustices.
'Our Constitution reflects the promise we made to one another and to future generations to redress the injustices of our past and realise the full potential of our country,' Ramaphosa wrote.
'For this reason, we reaffirm that broad-based Black economic empowerment is not just a policy choice but a constitutional imperative.'
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He referenced the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, which proclaimed, 'the people shall share in the country's wealth,' and argued that empowerment policies are key to ensuring inclusive growth.
'We must make our empowerment policies more meaningful,' he said.
'Economic growth without transformation entrenches exclusion, and transformation without growth is unsustainable.'
According to Ramaphosa, South Africa has made measurable progress since 1994, including improvements in ownership, management control, and enterprise and skills development, especially among women-owned businesses.
However, Rossouw sharply disagreed.
He argued that the current application of race-based policies has done little for ordinary citizens.
'It's obvious by now that the ANC government's economic policies are not working,' he said.
'Over the past decade, our growth rate has averaged around 1% per year, while population growth is 1.5%. That means on a per capita basis, South Africans are getting poorer.'
He added that the benefits of B-BBEE have largely gone to a small, politically connected elite.
'I can give you five or six people who are now exceptionally wealthy, Mr. Ramaphosa himself among them... Think of people in the coal and mining industries. Meanwhile, we have a large group of very poor South Africans,' he said.
'We see it in the Gini coefficient. We see it in unemployment. These policies are clearly not delivering the results they were originally intended to deliver. There's no skills transfer. Few people get very wealthy, while unemployment is over 50%.'
Rossouw said transformation is important, but not in the way the ANC is doing it.
'Transformation is necessary, but the current approach isn't helping. It's not creating jobs or reducing poverty. It's enriching a small elite. That's not a real transformation.'
The ANC's economic policies have also come under fire from opposition parties.
Both the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party criticised a recent proposal to allow foreign companies to meet B-BBEE requirements through the Equity Equivalent Investment Programmes (EEIPs), including Elon Musk's Star Link.
The EFF called it a 'backdoor for foreign multinationals' to avoid local empowerment laws, while the MK Party labeled it a 'treacherous blueprint' designed to dismantle state capacity and cut deals with foreign tech oligarchs.
When asked to comment on the backlash, Rossouw declined to weigh in on specifics, especially following recent global controversies.
'Well, that's a difficult one for me to respond to because the official line is that structures will be in place to allow people like Mr. (Elon) Musk into the country. Given his fight with Mr. (Donald) Trump (US President), I'd rather refrain from commenting,' Rossouw said.
Ramaphosa, for his part, argued that the world is in a 'polycrisis,' marked by global conflict, economic stagnation, and environmental degradation, and that South Africa must not retreat from its transformation agenda.
'We must dispense with the false notion that we must choose between growth and transformation,' he wrote.
'B-BBEE is not a cost to the economy; it is an investment in it.'
However, Rossouw said he remains unconvinced.
'What has Mr Ramaphosa brought to South Africa since his presidency that we can be proud of?' he asked.
'He's brought us nothing. High promises, no delivery… He is an ineffective leader.'
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