'The hours are long, the pressure quite immense' - President Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya

12 Jul 2024

Vincent Magwenya talks about starting his job as the Phala Phala scandal broke two years ago, the pressure of speaking for the president, the GNU, this week’s Cabinet lekgotla and the National Dialogue.

Just days after assuming his role as the president’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya found himself in the midst of the greatest controversy to face Cyril Ramaphosa’s incumbency, the Phala Phala scandal.

This was when controversial former spy boss and former president Jacob Zuma’s trusted ally, Arthur Fraser, opened a case with the police, stating that $4-million stashed inside a couch at Ramaphosa's Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo had been stolen, and the matter was hidden from the public while law enforcement agencies were irregularly used to pursue those accused of stealing the stash.

Read more in Daily Maverick here: Phala Phala - A timeline of what we know so far

The controversy continues to dog Ramaphosa. To this day, there has been no credible answer as to how such a huge stash of cash (reported to have actually been $500,000) landed at the president’s secluded game farm.

Magwenya said it was a very difficult time for the president, and for him personally as he had to try to put out the fires.

“First and foremost it was important to communicate the president’s position on the matter. It was important for the president to cooperate with the agencies that were investigating this matter. Second, it was important that we communicate the president’s version, consistently, on this matter, without interfering with the various investigations.

“Third, it was important for us to demonstrate to the country that, notwithstanding the Phala Phala issue, the president remained focused on his job and kept an eye on the challenges facing the country, including the energy crisis.

“So, our duty (as communicators) was to portray a president who had his hands full, not the one who was under siege because of the Phala Phala issue, ” he said.

Some insiders say Ramaphosa was about to hand in his resignation in December 2022 after a judicial inquiry found that he had questions to answer.

Magwenya disputed this as a “rumour which the president has responded to several times”, adding that Ramaphosa was ready to deal with such allegations, should they resurface.

Twenty-four-hour job

When Magwenya assumed his role in June 2022, it was not his first time in the Presidency – he was Zuma’s spokesperson from 2009 to 2010. He declined to speak about differences between the presidents, but was willing to speak about his current role.

“The hours are long, the pressure is quite immense, not only for me but for everyone who works closely with the president… It’s essentially a 24-hour job. I have to deal with a large number of media queries and requests that come through.

“There have been many instances where I had been speaking to the president past midnight and there are times when I wake up in the morning to find emails from him that had been dispatched at 2am. Media statements are generated as developments occur, not only in South Africa, but globally. If you find a gap or time during the day you take a walk, or go out with the kids.

“Despite the long hours, the travel away from home for pretty much all of us in the office, we all understand that what we are doing is bigger than all of us, the sense of public service, at the end of the day we are working for the nation.”

Elections and the GNU

In the 29 May elections, the governing ANC lost its majority for the first time, requiring it to go cap in hand to its rivals to seek a government of national unity (GNU), which led to some sharp criticism from both outsiders and party members.

Magwenya said accusations that Ramaphosa had sold out to the opposition DA, or neoliberals and “white monopoly capital”, were outlandish.

“There is a lot of noise going around, and we cannot respond to all the noise. We live in a democracy where everyone can stand up and say anything about the president. But I can tell you this… This noise is not based on sound political analysis.”

He continued: “That situation was not going to be responded to in noise and howling. It needed proper thinking minds, and that sobriety has delivered the Government of National Unity (GNU) and stability that we continue to enjoy in the country.

“It took us two weeks of intense negotiations to form the GNU when it takes other countries months and even years to form that government. So the president is not going to lose sleep over noise-makers, he is going to continue to provide leadership to deal with the challenges facing this country.”

Cabinet lekgotla

On Thursday, Ramaphosa convened the country’s first Cabinet bi-annual lekgotla to include such a wide array of parties. It’s expected to provide some sense of direction regarding the GNU members’ divergent policies.

“This lekgotla will then produce and come out with an aligned set of priorities for the seventh administration, and when I say aligned, remember the Cabinet is made up of ministers from different political parties… and so there has to be some form of alignment behind those priorities of the administration,” said Magwenya.

“The key issues are already outlined in the Statement of Intent and agreed to by the parties that are signatory to the GNU. All that is going to happen now is further refinement of those priorities and to look at how those priorities will be implemented,” he said.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Does South Africa’s new Cabinet have the GNU skills, ideas and energy to get the job done?

Magwenya said the GNU would test all those parties that were signatories to it, and its success or failure would also affect them all.

“It is still too early to say what challenges that the GNU will pose for us as government communicators. Certainly for the president, it will be how he marshals ministers from different political parties into a solid team.

“For us as communicators it will need some form of adaptation because you have people from different backgrounds. The reality is that as communicators we have to inform the public about the work that the government is doing,” he said.

National Dialogue announcement ‘very soon’

Ramaphosa has committed to holding a National Dialogue to address the country’s problems. It will include representatives from political parties, business, labour, the religious sector, traditional leadership, and civil society.

“The president has been very supportive of the idea of the National Dialogue, and having all these is to have these sectors, which have a common goal of a better country, coming together and reviving the shared common thinking around what kind of South Africa we would like to see and what resolutions we can come up with for the challenges that we face,” said Magwenya.

Read more in Daily Maverick: After the Bell: Can the GNU achieve a social compact, where a single-party government failed?

Magwenya dismissed claims it would be a talkshop.

“I can’t give you dates as to when the dialogue will take place because there is still a lot of groundwork to be done. I think that any cynicism or criticism of the dialogue would be greatly ill-informed when we have not finalised and presented the sort of framework that will guide the National Dialogue process. So once we have a team in place that will draft the framework we will make the necessary announcement,” he said.

“Very soon the president will make an announcement on the modalities of this dialogue and a date for these talks, at least from the government’s side,” said Magwenya.

Ramaphosa’s legacy

Critics of Ramaphosa often say he is an indecisive leader who takes too long to consult, and is not bold enough to take hard decisions and punish those who defy him. But Magwenya says his boss has notched some of the most remarkable achievements during his six years in power.

He paints a picture of a captain who came in at the most tumultuous period in the country’s history and is steering the ship to calmer waters.

“This is a very difficult question... If you look at it, his motivation right now is not about what legacy he will leave behind. His motivation is more about getting things done, getting the government to work for the people of this country. The sixth administration has been about rebuilding.

“The president has had a number of successes. He has rebuilt the capacity of critical state institutions. Remember that he inherited broken institutions following that period of State Capture. He then set about rebuilding those institutions.

“If you look at the crime justice cluster, we have a well-functioning National Prosecuting Authority, you have stability in the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions. Shamila Batohi is going to be the first director who will finish her full term… if you look at the Hawks, the police and various other institutions across the board, you have a degree of stability that was not there before,” he said.

“Now Eskom is well on its way to being fixed, you have a well-functioning board who have been focused on Eskom’s recovery strategy, and the results of that are beginning to show… and where does that come from? It comes from the energy action plan that the president launched in 2022. He saw through the implementation of that energy plan, with key ministries and officials reporting directly to him.

“Now we have had three months without load shedding, including now in winter. That does not say there are no challenges in the energy security of the country, but these challenges are being dealt with expeditiously.”

Nine wasted years

Ramaphosa once referred to Zuma’s presidency as the “nine wasted years”, the latter part of which Ramaphosa was serving as the deputy president.

Magwenya said Ramaphosa had very limited powers to change the course of the country at the time.

“It is true that the president was part of the government, especially for at least the last five of those years, and he has taken responsibility for some of those mishaps. But he had very limited powers to single-handedly change things.

“The powers and duties of the deputy president are assigned by the president. The president admits and takes responsibility on behalf of the ruling party that many mistakes were committed. Hence when he took over he was single-minded in rebuilding the institutions that were destroyed in the state capture period,” he said.

Selling out

When Zuma backed the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party in December 2023, he said his conscience could not allow him to campaign and vote for the “ANC of Ramaphosa”, accusing him of selling out the governing party.

Magwenya said: “You would have noticed that… it is the former president who has been making statements and public platforms to attack President Ramaphosa, and throughout that time the president has never responded to those statements and attacks. At a personal level, President Ramaphosa has no issue with the former president.

“But it is former president Zuma who has issues with the president through his own utterances, and Ramaphosa has not said a word about the former president in public. Even during the election campaign, when things were said about him, he was campaigning on a positive, forward-looking, nation-building message.

“He didn’t attack anybody, he didn’t campaign negatively… and where he needed to take responsibility on behalf of his party he did so.” DM

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