To date, Ramaphosa\u2019s term as president has been marked by slow economic growth, persistent high unemployment, and the implementation of controversial policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa\u2019s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has persistently been under 1%, which puts pressure on the country\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minister of Finance was forced to borrow money to prop up South Africa\u2019s budget, which resulted in the country\u2019s debt-to-GDP ratio hitting all-time highs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The May 2025 National Budget indicated that gross loan debt reached 76.9% of GDP in 2024\/25 and estimates it will reach 77.4% in 2025\/26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The state pays over R1.1 billion a day to service this debt. This money is effectively \u201cdead\u201d in that it does not provide any benefit to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The slow economic growth has also led to extremely high unemployment levels, which many economists describe as a crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest data shows that South Africa’s official unemployment rate is 32.6%, while the expanded definition puts it at 41.2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If South Africa cannot address this challenge, the country\u2019s long-term economic growth will remain flat, resulting in a worsening financial disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The primary reasons for the poor economic growth and high unemployment are damaging government policies and the appointment of the wrong people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under Ramaphosa, many damaging laws, including expropriation without compensation and national health insurance, were introduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His administration also continues to promote Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and Affirmative Action (AA) laws, despite their negative economic impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deteriorating relationship with the United States, South Africa\u2019s second-largest trading partner, is also damaging to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The collapse of the SA Police Service (SAPS), the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and other institutions is also a blot on his legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite widespread corruption, there is little action against those responsible for state capture and other public sector ills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christo Wiese’s views on Cyril Ramaphosa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Christo-Wiese-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>Billionaire Christo Wiese<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBusinessman Christo Wiese described Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s presidency as a disappointment which did not live up to expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wiese is one of South Africa\u2019s most successful businessmen and is behind many of South Africa\u2019s top retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His portfolio includes many prominent brands, including Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, Pep Stores, and OK Bazaars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is, therefore, in a good position to assess Ramaphosa\u2019s performance from a business and economic perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wiese said he holds Ramaphosa in high regard as a person. \u201cHe is a good person and I am sure he would have wanted to have a better legacy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have always defended him because I blame the system where a President can be recalled at any time by seven or eight people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe fact that a small group of people who don\u2019t bear the ultimate responsibility of running the country can recall a President is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the fact that Ramaphosa\u2019s predecessors, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, have been recalled showed the flaw in the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that the sitting President must walk a tightrope to keep a handful of people happy or risk being recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis can land the country in a worse situation. This is why I have sympathy with President Ramaphosa and why I defend him,\u201d Wiese said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHowever, there are instances where the government has failed miserably. The worst is the police and judiciary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said maintaining the rule of law is crucial for any country to succeed, and this is a significant failure of Ramaphosa\u2019s government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wiese also slated the obsession with outdated ideologies, which prevents the government from doing things which are good for the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billionaire Christo Wiese says Cyril Ramaphosa has been a disappointment as president, but has sympathy for the situation in which he must lead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":687567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[24220,22379,5223,4137,1293,4076,7520],"class_list":["post-844308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-affirmative-action-aa","tag-black-economic-empowerment-bee","tag-checkers","tag-christo-wiese","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-pepkor","tag-shoprite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844308"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":844312,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844308\/revisions\/844312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a>Businessman Christo Wiese described Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s presidency as a disappointment which did not live up to expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wiese is one of South Africa\u2019s most successful businessmen and is behind many of South Africa\u2019s top retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His portfolio includes many prominent brands, including Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, Pep Stores, and OK Bazaars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is, therefore, in a good position to assess Ramaphosa\u2019s performance from a business and economic perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wiese said he holds Ramaphosa in high regard as a person. \u201cHe is a good person and I am sure he would have wanted to have a better legacy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have always defended him because I blame the system where a President can be recalled at any time by seven or eight people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe fact that a small group of people who don\u2019t bear the ultimate responsibility of running the country can recall a President is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the fact that Ramaphosa\u2019s predecessors, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, have been recalled showed the flaw in the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that the sitting President must walk a tightrope to keep a handful of people happy or risk being recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis can land the country in a worse situation. This is why I have sympathy with President Ramaphosa and why I defend him,\u201d Wiese said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHowever, there are instances where the government has failed miserably. The worst is the police and judiciary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said maintaining the rule of law is crucial for any country to succeed, and this is a significant failure of Ramaphosa\u2019s government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wiese also slated the obsession with outdated ideologies, which prevents the government from doing things which are good for the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billionaire Christo Wiese says Cyril Ramaphosa has been a disappointment as president, but has sympathy for the situation in which he must lead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":687567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[24220,22379,5223,4137,1293,4076,7520],"class_list":["post-844308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-affirmative-action-aa","tag-black-economic-empowerment-bee","tag-checkers","tag-christo-wiese","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-pepkor","tag-shoprite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844308"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":844312,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844308\/revisions\/844312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}