Secunda – The intoxicating effects of “Ramaphoria” following the swearing in of President Cyril Ramaphosa are wearing off just as quickly as they appeared, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said on Saturday.

Maimane was addressing the party's Mpumalanga Provincial Congress. He said he had not expected that it would have happened so soon.

“But this must surely go down in history as one of the shortest honeymoons ever,” he said.

Maimane said he stood by his offer made to Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Debate, where he had offered to work with him where actions were in the interest of the country and its people.

Maimane said Ramaphosa had however revealed his true character, with the appointment of David Mabuza as deputy president.

“He has [also] kept a rump of corrupt, captured ministers in his Cabinet,” he said.

Maimane proceeded to list all Mabuza’s scandals.

“The man who now occupies the office of the Deputy President, David Mabuza, ran Mpumalanga like a mob boss runs his city,” he said.

“Anyone of the many scandals linked to David Mabuza should have been enough to remove him from office. But we have learnt the hard way in this country that scandals alone don’t end careers, as long as you’re connected to the right people.”

“President Ramaphosa has fallen at the first hurdle. He should have put DD Mabuza in prison, not in the Presidency,” he said.

Maimane said more concerning though, was the apparent indications that Ramaphosa had given in to populists in his own party and the Economic Freedom Fighters regarding land.

“Today in our country, the values which underpin our Constitution, and which have formed the bedrock of our national consensus since 1994 are under attack,” he said.

 “The DA is now the only party left that is prepared to come to the defence of our country’s founding values. For these are also our values. And just as we stood for these values through the darkest days of apartheid, so must we rise to fight for them again now.”