As much as I want to believe Cyril Ramaphosa is honest, sincere and dedicated about leading our country honourably back to where it should be and to stamping out corruption, the evidence dished up every day in headlines and confidence destroying articles, forces me to ask him, with no sense of irony or sarcasm:

What the hell is wrong with you, Cyril? Seriously? What the hell are you doing?

I know you’re an intelligent human being but these questions have to be asked because there is a chasmic disconnect between what you’re saying and what you appear to be doing – which is nothing. I have to ask whether you really understand the dire situation in which the country finds itself? I suspect you’ve lost touch with reality in your bubble of privilege because every single day that passes we find ourselves deeper in the corruption cesspool and infrastructure disintegration making it even more difficult to pull ourselves out of the mire and save our country.

When are you going to demonstrate the urgency our collective situation requires? And, excuse my phrase, but, when are you going to show the balls of a great leader required to start stopping our descent further into the shitty circumstances you seem content to watch us slide?

Honest South Africans are tired of your pussy-footing, agenda-juggling, oh-so-ever-polite-and-proper dithering around while things just keep getting even worse. You may be impressed by your own erudite words but they are lost on the rest of us. What good is articulate oration from the lectern while the stage burns to ashes around you? You should have one agenda only: putting the country and the people first and to hell with your corrupt comrades.

You sat on your hands twiddling your thumbs while operation Zupta was rolled out by the ANC. You can’t say you didn’t know it was going on. Yet, you put political self-preservation above everything and watched mutely while the flames of corruption, slowly at first then with gathering speed, engulfed our once great and beautiful country. Your record seems to show that’s what you do best – nothing! You look out for Number 1 and damn the rest of us to decades of strife, struggle and poverty.

Not only did the Zuptarruption of South Africa take hold while you sat meekly by, it still steams ahead at full speed while you continue to sit meekly by and watch this runaway train careen towards the inevitable dead-end disaster-in-waiting. Suddenly six generators all break down at the same time. Suddenly Eskom refuses to transport coal for the other generators. Suddenly Ajay Gupta gets charges against him withdrawn.

Gavin Watson and Markus Jooste continue to live the high-life is paradise. And now Eskom is going to put up our electricity costs by a whopping 23% over 3 years? Do you see the trend unfolding here? I’ll eat my hat and my words if the board of NERSA don’t all sport leather jackets and are not on the Gupta payroll too. How could they approve such an increase? How could you allow them to approve such an increase?

What do you, Cyril, not understand that these increases are not sustainable or bearable? But you let the corrupt NERSA board do the Eskom/Zupta bidding while, again, sitting idly by twiddling your thumbs, doing exactly diddly about it. Who’s in charge of this country, Cyril? If it really is you, prove it! If it’s not you, then have the decency to tell us you are a useless puppet being played by the much wilier Zuma forces and be done with it.

As malevolent and immoral as Zuma is, at least he had the guts to go ahead and fulfill his agenda, no matter how corrupt and evil it is. He always told us that so many decisions, appointments and projects were the prerogative of the president, no matter how unpopular they were. And you and the ANC all nodded your heads in parcel-shelf-puppy bobbing-head appeasing silence. When are you going to start using your presidential prerogative for the good of South Africa Cyril? When are you going to demonstrate the strength and urgency required to, not only stop but, reverse the rot with which your own party has contaminated our country?

Under your watch, Cyril, the Guptas were allowed to leave the country to forever escape justice and having to answer for their crimes. Just the other day Ajay Gupta had charges against him dropped. Under your watch Gavin Watson is still a free man while his colleagues and company have been charged. How can everyone else be charged but the evil mastermind of Bosasa is allowed off scot-free?

We all know our police, NPA and Public Protector are all on the Zupta payroll, compromised and not worthy of their jobs and now, most alarmingly, we know that our courts too are compromised and many judges and magistrates are on the Zupta and Watson payrolls. There can be no other rational explanation why our timid courts are always finding in favour of the corrupt. We’re tired of our ineffective Police, NPA, PP and court system explaining condescendingly why they can’t charge and prosecute the corrupt. Enough of the excuses already! We want a justice system that tells us how many corrupt business people politicians and public servants have been charged and are being prosecuted. Do you have the mettle to make it happen?

Zuma will go down as the most corrupt president in South African history, pre- and post-’94. Unless you do something meaningful, quickly, you are going to go down as the lamest duck president in our history and, probably, in the world. That ignominy would be a catalyst to action for any honest and proud leader but you seem content to wear that embarrassing label as long as you get to play president in front of the media and tell fine sounding but superficial stories.

I honestly wonder if you are not on the Zuptas’ or Watsons’ payroll. What other reason can there be for your lethargic, limp-wristed response to the calamitous emergency facing the country?

Prove me wrong. Please.

But for God’s sake, Cyril! For the country’s sake. For our peoples' sake. DO SOMETHING! NOW.