In 2017, Cyril Ramaphosa was the dream candidate of the European Union. He simply could do no wrong.
Every EU ambassador in Pretoria praised him as the one who would save the country from its abyss of the “lost Zuma years”. Angela Merkel from Germany, especially, included Ramaphosa in her most strategic “compound” plans and walked him holding hands into high-level meetings that were closed to other African leaders.
Ramaphosa, now approaching the end of his first term in office, appeared on the national broadcaster’s cameras late March 6, worn out and hesitant.
He announced ministerial portfolio rotations and added four new “ministers in the Presidency” to a large presidential team of about 50, who form a de facto parallel government
