The visit by President
@CyrilRamaphosa to Zimbabwe yesterday revealed unmitigated decadence in the top offices in both Zimbabwe & South Africa.
That we are now getting conflicting messages on whether it was "a working visit" or "private visit", as Zimbabwean officials call it, doesn't help matters either.
What was on display was not just a display of the levels to which the two men occupying the presidency in both countries have gone to tolerate criminality around them, it went as far as making the two one with the malaise that characterises the individuals they chose to hobknob with and parade to the whole world to see.
More importantly, the two leaders chose to show a middle finger, not only to citizens of their respectivecountries, but to institutions fighting corruption in their respective countries.
Zimbabweans had grown to witness, with indignation, the individual that President Ramaphosa allowed, yesterday, to throw his obese frame around him, childishly flaunting pictures with African leaders whom we suspect to have been compromised so they turn a blind eye to the state capture & rampant looting of state coffers happening in Zimbabwe. But never thought South Africa, or worse still, President Ramaphosa, would stoop that low to entertain such tainted characters in his vicinity.
But from yesterday's showing, all the denial was blown away by shocking visuals of the man at the helm of a democracy that many Zimbabweans admire, being dragged, willingly, into the den of thieves.
It was shocking to see him dine & cosy up with criminals responsible for the economic rot north of the Limpopo which has put undue pressure on South African government's service delivery.
I don't care what message he had brought to the Zimbabwean President, the sight of him being ushered by criminals being investigated by his country's FIC and law enforcement agents is the kind of thing that has seen Presidents in normal coutries impeached.
It is the kind of political misjudgement that you don't normally associate with a seasoned politician like President Ramaphosa.
Despite what is happening in South Africa, about xenophobic attacks, the South African Presidency has always been a breathe of fresh air in Africa.
We have been witnessing democracy at play in South Africa with President Ramaphosa showing massive displays of top notch political judgement & behaviour, even under extreme provocation, but never on any day did we prepare for the kind of political recklessness around the SA Presidency like we witnessed yesterday.
Didn't
@CyrilRamaphosa know that the man ushering him yesterday was flagged by FIC for alleged money laundering involving R1.2 billion? Didn't he know that the same guy's brother is a fugitive from the law in SA on allegations of illicit gold dealing involving R15 million?
Would
@CyrilRamaphosa have entertained Thabo Bester's elder brother for dinner at his house while the brother was running away from the law?
South Africa has been a leading light in Africa on issues of democracy and the rule of law, to see that legacy dragged through the mud by criminals in Harare was very painful.
I just hope the SA Presidency has a very plausible explanation to the madness we saw on display yesterday.
@Julius_S_Malema @Sophie_Mokoena @DIRCO_ZA @ibbosnr