It was never going to be easy to steer the South African ship of state after the Jacob Zuma years, but Cyril Ramaphosa has not dealt decisively with his opponents and has not advanced an idea that encapsulates the type of society we want to see.

This article first appeared on Creamer Media's website: polity.org.za.

The previous parts of this series on leadership can be read here and here.

Cyril Ramaphosa scraped into the job as president with a slim margin at the ANC national conference at the end of 2017 and faced a divided ANC, especially at the leadership level. That meant he would not enjoy the level of unconditional support in the organisation that was enjoyed for most of the Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma periods at the helm. If he had had that backing it would have left space to take decisions that were required, in the face of whatever opposition he encountered outside of the ANC.

Leadership in Question (Part One): The leadership we have

In fact, the most significant opposition that Ramaphosa has experienced has been from within the ANC and it has continued unabated until now.

The divisions that were manifested in the conference...